FicWad

DISCLAIMER: I don't Harry Potter, etc.; J.K. Rowling does. Need I say more?

This story is dedicated to VMorticia, my true Slytherin friend! Her AU seires (where Harry's a Slytherin) showed just how many different possibilities can be explored! (BTW, she deleted it a while ago, although if you want it, you could email her and ask for it.)

NOTE: This was the first one-shot I ever wrote, so it's not perfect, and definitely not my best work. Just so you know.

/"The Hat Said Slytherin"/

By Quillian

(Originally named Kraeg001)

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes- and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, 'Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.'

"Oh, but why not?" the Sorting Hat debated. "You're very ambitious, cunning, determined, and resourceful indeed. All those attributes I mentioned make you perfect for that House, so why not?"

'Dark wizards come out of that House, and Voldemort was one of them,' Harry thought firmly.

"Oh, now don't be so harsh, my boy," the Hat said, plainly amused, "Not every wizard in Slytherin is or was Dark, and even the other Houses have had their rotten apples occasionally. Besides, with you in Slytherin, the Dark wizard fact will be invalidated, right? I hope you like green and silver! SLY-"

The Hat started when Harry's hands shot up and wrestled its mouth shut; the Slytherin house was ready to start cheering, but they were cut off when they saw the famous young wizard try to prevent the Hat from putting him there. There was muttering from the other houses, and even from the staff as the Hat struggled to get itself loose.

"You certainly have a tight grip!" the Hat said in his ear. "But you might want to let go of me."

'And why should I?' Harry asked in an even tone.

"Brave but foolish," the Hat said sadly. There was a sudden pain in Harry's hands; the Hat bit him!

"Ow!" he muttered as he pulled them back. With his mouth open again, the Hat declared, "SLYTHERIN!"

There was a hushed silence, replaced a moment later by a deafening noise that filled Harry's ears as he put the Hat back on the stool in a dejected manner. The Slytherins were cheering and applauding as Harry walked up to them as though he were heading for the gallows; Draco Malfoy shouted at the Gryffindors, "We got Potter!" The Weasley twins and their prefect brother looked shocked, angry and betrayed. Malfoy then tried to shake Harry's hand, but the latter wrenched it loose. "Don't think for a moment I'd work with you," he muttered as he sat down, ignoring the other Slytherins who were welcoming him to their House.

Looking back, he could see Ron, whose expression basically was, "Well, it was nice knowing you." Professor McGonagall, who was still with the other students yet to be Sorted, had a sad, ashen look on her face as though she didn't want this either.

From this angle, he could see the High Table properly; the other teachers' reactions were mixed. Professor Dumbledore, the same wizard who he saw earlier on the Chocolate Frog card, was looking at them with an unreadable expression that Harry didn't take as being very good. Hagrid was looking sympathetically, with those brown eyes of his full of sadness. Professor Quirrel, now wearing a giant turban, was eyeing Harry as though he would spit poison at him. The other teachers were muttering amongst themselves, while one teacher sat aloof from the rest of them. He had a hooked nose, dark black eyes, and a curtain of greasy black hair. He was looking at Harry curiously, as though he were up to something.

"Who's that teacher down at the end?" he muttered to Malfoy, as the Sorting continued. "The dark one?"

"Oh him?" Malfoy muttered back. "That's our Head of House, Professor Snape. He teaches Potions."

As Harry and Snape made eye contact, the boy felt pain in his scar.

"Ow!" he muttered, rubbing his forehead.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing... headache..."

As Ron was sorted into Gryffindor with the rest of his brothers, Harry looked down gloomily. He wondered if he had been better at Stonewall High; here, he had a Slytherin badge, a bunch of classmates he couldn't get along with for the life of him, and two hands that still hurt.

Later that night...

Harry's mood darkened as they went down to the Slytherin common rooms. They were probably under the lake, Harry thought. A big sixth-year boy who introduced himself as Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, gave the password to open the stretch of bare wall: "Diamondback." More snake-related things, how fitting for Slytherins, of course.

The Slytherin common room made him think of a torture chamber. Thankfully, he didn't have to stay there long; a prefect directed him to the boy's dormitories. His trunk was already there.

Later that night in their dorm room (what looked like another underground cavern), Malfoy was putting on his nightclothes when he said to Harry, "Look, the offer still stands-"

"/No/."

This shut Malfoy up instantly, and for a moment, he looked hurt; as Harry got into bed, he wondered why his life was like this.

The next morning...

From the moment he left the Slytherin common room the next morning, whispers followed him around like Draco did (he thought he was trying to get some of the attention too). "There, look." "Where?" "Next to the pale kid with blond hair." "Wearing the glasses?" "Did you see his face?" "Did you see his scar?" Even in the halls, people doubled back or stood on tip-toe to get a better look at him; he tried to ignore it the best he could, so he could find his way to his classes in this maze of a castle.

If it weren't for his classmates, Harry would have almost enjoyed his life at school. Draco was constantly drawling in a spoiled sort of way; Crabbe and Goyle seemed too dumb to even be human; Theodore Nott was very weird; Millicent Bulstrode, who looked something like a hag, winked at him from time to time in a way he didn't like; and Pansy Parkinson, whose face looked like a pug's, constantly wooed him and Draco constantly so that if she wasn't approaching one of them, she was going after the other one.

He understood his teachers very quickly; Sprout was cheerful, Flitwick was excitable, Binns was boring, Sinistra was interesting, and McGonagall was strict. While McGonagall seemed prone to taking points off Slytherins a little too excessively, she eyed Harry from time to time when she thought he wasn't looking. Harry caught something like sympathy in her eyes, as though being sorted into Slytherin was tantamount to being diagnosed with a terrible illness. He heard rumors secondhand about how both his parents had been in Gryffindor, so maybe McGonagall was upset that he wasn't in her house as well.

On Friday morning, Harry got a note from Hagrid. After thanking Hedwig, and giving her some of his juice and toast, she flew up to the Owlrey to get some sleep. The note read: "Dear Harry, I know you get Friday afternoons off, so why not come and visit me around three o' clock? We can discuss your first week of school. Cheers, Hagrid. P.S. Rough luck being sorted into Slytherin; don't worry, I know you won't go evil." This cheered Harry up slightly.

At least with Hagrid's to look forward to, he thought he could endure Potions, whatever it was like; he had a feeling that with Snape in charge, things couldn't be good.

He walked down to the dungeons, which seemed to echo his sad mood. Without a doubt, Malfoy was standing behind him, trying to talk to him. "You know," he drawled quietly in Harry's ear. "Snape never gives detentions to Slytherins, let alone takes points from his own house. See, it's not that bad here, Potter."

"Hm," was Harry's only response. As he walked towards the door, he saw the seven Gryffindors who were in the same year as him, standing separate from the other Slytherins. Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom waited anxiously near the door; Seamus Finnigan was having a debate with Dean Thomas about Quidditch vs. soccer; and Parvati Patil was giggling with Lavender Brown. All seven pairs of eyes swiveled onto him as he came up to them, and there was more muttering between them. 'This is getting depressing,' he thought, 'This needs to stop.'

"Er, hi Ron," he said, addressing the redhead he met on the train, "How was your first week?"

There was silence as Ron's face contorted dislike. "Shove off, Potter," he spat, "Don't think your dirty Slytherin tricks will work on us."

"Well, Potter," Malfoy drawled right behind him, "That's what you get for trying to be nice to a Gryffindor; they treat you like dirt."

Having grown up with bullies like his cousin, Harry normally tried to refrain from physical violence, but the whole Slytherin thing was really starting to irritate him. "Shut up, Malfoy," he muttered back, but for everyone else to hear.

As everyone else gasped, Malfoy went, if possible, even paler. "Now see here, Potter," he hissed in a very snakelike manner, "Just because I try to help you tell the difference between proper wizards like me and riffraff like those Weasleys-"

That did it. A week of having to go through all this treatment from stupid Slytherins and biased non-Slytherins alike finally took its toll on Harry. With much venom, he elbowed Malfoy in the gut. As Malfoy backed against the wall, clutching his chest and trying to breathe, Harry silently walked away from him and down towards the other end of the crowd of students, all of whom were buzzing like excited bees.

The door suddenly swung open, and he found himself staring Professor Snape right in the eye. His eyes were dark, but they didn't have any warmth like Hagrid's did; instead, they made you think of cold, dark tunnels. His eyes lingered on Harry for a moment, and then he addressed the class at large. "Well, come in, before I start having to assign detentions." There was a sudden rush as everyone entered, and Harry was the first in to avoid being pushed forward by everyone else. A few moments later, Ron sat down next to him; it was obvious that this was the only seat left. Harry acted as though he wasn't there.

Once they all settled down, Snape got started with the roll call. When he reached Harry's name, he paused and said with a faint trace of something like amusement in his voice, "Ah, Harry Potter. Our new- celebrity." Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered a little. After finishing, Snape got down to business with his teacher speech. Knowing that, like McGonagall, this professor was not somebody to cross, Harry hung on to every word, up until the very end: "...I can teach you to brew fame, bottle glory, even stopper death- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

A heavy silence followed this. "Potter!" Snape suddenly called out, "What would I get if I added a powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry thought carefully; he remembered this from his books that he read back at Privet Drive and in the common room before going to bed. "Er, Potion of Living Death?" Well, at least he got lucky there, right?

Snape's eyes narrowed; it was obvious he hated Harry for some reason. "Close, Potter. It is called the Draught of Living Death. How about this one: Where would I look if I told you to find me a beozar?"

Harry could see that Snape hated him; he wasn't going to just surrender, however. After thinking carefully for a moment, he answered, "The stomach of a goat. It will protect a person from most poisons, right?"

"Indeed it will. Ten points to Slytherin." Ron rolled his eyes. Snape's eyes immediately latched onto him instead; evidently, doing this while Snape was looking in his direction wasn't the smartest thing to do. "Well, it seems Mr. Weasley over here might know something as well."

Ron gulped. He had heard tales from his older brothers about Snape. According to them, there were three things inevitable in life: Death, taxes, and Snape being unfair towards Gryffindors.

"Tell me, Mr. Weasley," Snape said, sneering, "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Stuttering, Ron weakly replied, "I don't know, sir. Why not ask your pet Potter next to me?"

There was a collective gasp, promptly followed by utter silence, while Harry turned to face Ron, the former's emerald green eyes burning into the latter's deep blue ones. Sneering more, the Potions Professor said, "Actually, Mr. Weasley, both plants are the same, and they also go by the name aconite. Well? Why aren't you copying this down?"

As everyone got out their quills, ink and parchment, Snape said over the scribbling, "And twenty points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Weasley."

Things went badly for Gryffindor during most of the lesson. Harry noticed that it had something to do with Snape looking at them, which made them uncomfortable. In fact, without Snape doing the same thing to him, Harry enjoyed working on his potion. It was also apparent right away that Malfoy was Snape's favorite student; the professor was just commenting about the pale boy's horned slugs when there was a sudden hissing sound from the cauldron he was sharing with Ron. With a wicked look on his face, Ron said, "Potter, you dunce! What have you done to our potion?"

Snape swept over to them as everybody watched; the Slytherins had expressions of anger, while most of the Gryffindors, except Hermione and Neville, were eager to see Snape tell off one of his own students. Looking at the failed potion in the cauldron, Snape said, "The porcupine quills were added before they should have been."

Ron looked at Harry evilly just as Snape said, "Ten points from Gryffindor for sabotaging your own potion in an attempt to frame one of my own students, Weasley."

Ron looked horrified now. "But- how-"

Snape sneered in victory. "Because they're on your side of the table, so you would be the one in charge of them."

Harry glared daggers at Ron. "Dirty Slytherin tricks, huh? You're not acting so noble yourself, Ron."

He caught a glimpse of Snape looking almost proud before Ron shot his mouth off again. "Oh, more sympathy for the great Harry Potter! He gains people's trust one moment, and then joins the rest of the slimy snakes! Why doesn't he just do us all a favor and be with his parents again if he misses them so badly!? Then again, they're probably angry at him right now for being a Slytherin!"

Ron finally touched a nerve. Taking the jar of bat spleens, Harry threw it at Ron, scattering them all over his robes. "Who the heck do you think you are, Weasley?" he roared, even causing Snape to be taken aback. "DID YOU NOT SEE ME GET RID OF MALFOY FOR BADMOUTHING YOU EARLIER? IS YOUR MEMORY SO SHORT THAT YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME DEFENDING YOU FROM HIM ON THE TRAIN? DO YOU REALLY THINK SLYTHERIN WAS MY FIRST OPTION? IF ANYONE'S A TRAITOR, IT'S YOU FOR BEING SO STEREOTYPICAL WITH YOUR 'ALL SLYTHERINS BELONG IN HELL' ATTITUDE! AND HOW DARE YOU MAKE THAT COMMENT ABOUT MY PARENTS! THEY DIED TRYING TO PROTECT ME, TO STOP VOLDEMORT FROM KILLING MORE PEOPLE! I HAD TO GROW UP WITH MUGGLE RELATIVES WHO HATED ME SO MUCH FOR BEING A WIZARD THAT HOW THEY TREATED ME WOULD HAVE MADE AN ORPHANAGE LOOK LIKE PARADISE! YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAVE YOUR PARENTS, PLUS FIVE OLDER BROTHERS AND A YOUNGER SISTER! YOU THINK I HAVE IT MADE? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU TEMPERAMENTAL GIT!" Grabbing his bag, he stormed past a shell-shocked Ron, narrowly missed a thunderstruck Snape, and slammed the door behind him, nearly causing it to rattle on its hinges.

As silence swept through, people looked at each other, still digesting this unheard of information. The Slytherins were glaring at Ron for this treatment of their classmate, while the Gryffindors were glaring at him for making their house look so bad. Snape turned back to a guilty Ron, his face stony. "So, Weasley, how do you suggest fixing this mistake of yours?"

Meanwhile...

Harry swept through the halls, ignoring looks he got from the occasional ghost drifting by. His feet took him out to Hagrid's cabin. Sitting down behind it, he dropped his bag and fumed, thinking of what had just happened. Ron's nastiness towards him was like adding insult to injury.

His whole life was shot to hell. He thought Hogwarts would be like sanctuary to him, only to end up like this. People hated him, whatever house they were in. The closest they ever got to actually liking him was talking about how FAMOUS he was. Blah. Unable to take it anymore, he put his head into his lap, and he cried.

This in itself was unusual; during his years with the Dursleys, he never tried to show any weakness; now, however, he just couldn't hold it in any longer. He stayed like this for about ten minutes until unnaturally loud footsteps came to his direction. It was Hagrid.

"Harry!? What's wrong? What happened? Then again, come inside before anyone sees you like this."

Taking his bag with him and wiping his face on his sleeve, he followed Hagrid inside. After accepting a napkin from the giant (which was the size of a towel), Harry recounted the entire episode in the dungeons. By the end of it, Hagrid was shaking with fury.

"HOW DARE HE!" Hagrid exploded at last; Harry could have sworn he heard the birds outside taking flight at the noise. "HOW DARE THE LITTLE- WHEN I FIND HIM- OOH, I OUGHTA-!"

"Whatever it is, Rubeus, please don't do it; we already have the situation under control," said a voice from the doorway. Professor McGonagall was standing in the doorway, with a very guilty-looking Ron at her side.

"Well, Weasley, you know what to do," McGonagall said.

Ron strode forward and said with such honesty in his voice that he could tell it was real, "I'm sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have said any of that, especially the stuff about your parents. From what I've heard, they were wonderful people, and they would be proud of you, no matter which house you were in. By the way, I shouldn't have been so judgmental about you being in a separate house, let alone Slytherin; I mean, you DID try to wrestle the Hat into changing its mind." Taking a deep breath, Ron extended his hand. "Friends?"

For the first time in a week, Harry smiled; this would make Malfoy jealous. "Friends," he said, shaking his hands. "Anyway, why don't you stay for tea?"

McGonagall gave a rare smile as she turned around and left; she smiled even more as she heard Hagrid over her shoulder: "Another Weasley, eh? I spend half my life chasing your twin brothers away from the forest..."

Moments later...

Snape was waiting in the shadows near the entrance hall. "So, Minerva, how did it go?"

She smiled, "Very well, Severus. But won't rumors go around about the fiasco in the dungeon?"

Snape shook his head. "No; while I may have given Mr. Weasley detention this evening for his provocation, mainly for him to redo the potion, I threatened the rest of the class with a week's worth of detention if they spread it around the castle. I might rely on student labor to help me cut and prepare ingredients for potions from time to time, but having to deal with at least a dozen mixed Slytherins and Gryffindors in a single detention with sharp objects and dead plants and animals is enough to give anyone a headache," he said in his normal greasy tones.

McGonagall smirked. "Very insightful. Anyway, it's time to see the Headmaster real quick before dinner. We have that issue to discuss."

Snape nodded. "I know. By the way, what Potter said about his relatives; is that true?"

She frowned. "Even that night after You-Know-Who's downfall, I tried to convince him to let a Wizarding family raise him, but he insisted on leaving Harry with Lily Potter's sister and her family; Albus insisted that Harry live with them to grow up not knowing about magic until the time was right. Those relatives were horrible, even for Muggles, but I had no choice but to let Albus do what he thought was best."

Snape silently followed her to the staff room, still digesting all this information.

Immediately afterwards...

Professor Dumbledore was waiting there, along with Professors Sprout and Flitwick. As the other two Heads of Houses entered and sat down, Dumbledore got up to make his speech.

"My fellow professors, who are the Heads of Houses, we have an important issue to discuss. I don't mean to sound as though I favor him, but this concerns Harry Potter."

All four professors leaned closer. "It seems that his being placed in Slytherin has had a negative effect on nearly the entire school. No offense to Slytherins, Severus," Dumbledore quickly added.

"None taken," Snape replied curtly.

"For the past week, you have all been observing the actions of your Houses like I asked you too. Minerva, will you please go first?"

McGonagall stood up. "Well, Albus, most of Gryffindor seems to have been speculating and spreading rumors that You-Know-Who wanted to kill him because he was a potential Dark rival. Of course, some of the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry seems to have influenced some of this nonsense. At least a few students, like Hermione Granger, for one, seem to dismiss this kind of nonsense."

Snape turned to her. "This must be the fifth time this week I've heard you discuss her," he said coldly.

McGonagall blushed a little. "She's a very good student," she said innocently.

"Well, Pomona," Dumbledore interjected, turning to Sprout, "How about the Hufflepuffs?"

The Herbology professor sighed. "Half the house wonder the same thing, but I'm glad to say the other half still want to work with Mr. Potter. The classic Hufflepuff desire for cooperation and lack of conflict is still shining through."

"Filius, how about you?"

Flitwick piped up in his squeaky voice, "Well, the Ravenclaws seem to be sympathetic to Mr. Potter. Their love of clarity and logic helps them dismiss those hurtful rumors quite easily."

"And Severus, how about your house? What about his interaction with his housemates?"

Snape snorted, "Interaction? I think you mean the lack thereof. He is utterly miserable. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he doesn't hold the same ideals of Wizarding Culture as most of them, coming from the Muggle perspective he's grown up with, or maybe because some classmates, like Draco Malfoy, have fathers whose association with the former Dark Lord is... /questionable/, at best. And as for the rumors, the older Slytherins seem to use them to scare the younger students from other houses. You all know by now of the incident earlier today?" The rest of them nodded. "I'm starting to wonder if the Hat made a mistake."

"I heard that," came a voice from under the table. Dumbledore apologized and took something out from underneath; it was the Sorting Hat.

"I only did my job," the Hat defended itself. "Besides, he seemed perfect for Slytherin! I know both his parents were in Gryffindor, but seriously, the traits which different houses value aren't hereditary like hair and eye color."

"Albus, is there any way we can resort him? I know it's against school policy, but somehow I think that by letting this continue, we'll be making an even bigger mistake," Minerva pleaded.

"You only want him in your House because his parents were Gryffindors," Snape sneered.

McGonagall shot her younger colleague a look she normally reserved for misbehaving students. "You only say that because deep down you hate him," she spat in her sharp voice, "Just because he has James' face and Lily's eyes."

Snape scowled. "Believe me, it's far from that, even though I assure you that if he were resorted into a different house, I won't bemoan it."

"Minerva, Severus," Dumbledore interrupted, his voice like a whip. Both of them immediately stopped. "Maybe we should resort him, just to be safe." He turned to the Hat and asked, "Do you agree to this?"

The Hat sighed. "Oh, all right, if you want so badly to make him happy."

Snape's scowl deepened. That was what made him loathe Harry Potter even more; not his parents, but how everyone, even Dumbledore, acted towards Harry himself.

Dumbledore got out a sheet of parchment and signed it, then stamped it with the school seal. McGonagall did the same with her Gryffindor seal, affixing a lion in red ink. Sprout and Flitwick followed suit, their yellow badger and blue eagle joining. As the quill and parchment were passed to Snape, he paused. 'Why do I get the feeling that I will regret this?' he thought to himself. 'Oh well, too late to back out now. Besides, after how he defended my house, this is the least I can do for him.' He signed it and stamped his serpent onto it, giving a moment for the green ink to dry.

"Excellent," Dumbledore said. "He will be resorted at dinner. No one breathe a word of this."

Later on...//

Harry went back to his common room, his spirits feeling much better than they had all week. His homework seemed to fly by faster. His mood kept getting better until dinner, where Professor Dumbledore got up before the food appeared.

"I have an announcement to make. Due to several tensions over the past week, the Heads of Houses, myself, and the Sorting Hat have opted to resort Harry Potter." Everyone turned to look at him, but he felt a tiny hope grow inside of him. "That is, of course, if he wishes to be resorted. Mr. Potter, do you wish to be resorted?"

Finding his voice, he said, "Yes, sir. Thanks for giving me the opportunity."

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course. Here, try the Hat on again."

As he got up, Malfoy grabbed him. "What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing, Potter?" he hissed. "Slytherin is the best house!"

"Not for me, it isn't," he said coldly. "Sorry, Malfoy, but your wealth, power and influence won't help you this time." The rest of the Slytherins shot nasty looks at him while some of the students from other houses sniggered, but he shrugged them off as he went up to the High Table and tried it on.

"Ah, back again, I see," the Hat mused. "Couldn't survive in the snake pit, huh? Oh well, that leaves the lion's den, the badger's burrow, and the eagle's nest, doesn't it?"

'Just resort me so I can end this nightmare,' he thought back.

"Please, enlighten me," the Hat said, "At least now I don't have to wait another entire year to sing again, collecting dust in the meantime. So, what non-Slytherin traits do we have here? Like I said before, you have courage, but what have we also got here? Bravery and nobility, oh my, how interesting indeed. So you're absolutely sure you don't want to spend the next seven years in Slytherin?"

'Positive.'

"Well, in which case, I hope you like red and gold! Better be GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors exploded into cheers, while the Slytherins groaned in unison. Smiling, Harry took the Hat off and returned it to Professor Dumbledore. "Congratulations, Harry. All your belongings will be moved up to Gryffindor Tower. Hang on one moment." His badge glowed and got warm, and his serpent was replaced with a lion.

As he walked over to the Gryffindor Table, Ron slapped him on the back, the Weasley twins catcalled "We got Potter! We got Potter!" and Percy shook his hand vigorously. Glancing over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy looked as though his own execution had been ordered.

Later that night, Harry found his way to Gryffindor Tower. It was a cozy circular room, full of warmth and friendliness, unlike the coldness he felt whenever he was in the dreary rectangular Slytherin common room.

In his dormitory, his belongings were in front of a bed. Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus all welcomed him to their dorm room. For the first time in a week, he slept soundly.

After that...

His next week was wonderful. He felt much better at being part of what felt like his proper house.

However, he was a little apprehensive about Potions. Snape picked points off of him with his seven new classmates, but as far as he was concerned, it proved that he was a true Gryffindor.

Later that afternoon, he had to put up with Slytherins again. Flying lessons! Harry had been looking forward to this, but things turned sour quickly. He had to get Neville's Remembrall back after Malfoy stole it, and Professor McGonagall even had to talk to him about flying without Madame Hooch present.

Now he had done it; just when he gets into Gryffindor, he doesn't last long there either. How bitterly ironic.

The moment McGonagall put him on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the new Seeker, she was smiling, and Oliver Wood, the Captain and Keeper, looked impossibly ecstatic. 'Things just keep getting better and better,' he thought to himself as he left the empty classroom, anxious to tell Ron the good news.

Later on...//

Later that night in the staff room, McGonagall told all the other teachers about her new Seeker, with Dumbledore's special permission, of course. Most of them looked happy for Harry, but when Snape heard, he nearly had what Muggles would call "a meltdown".

"He WHAT!?" he nearly screamed; it was a good thing all of the students were in their dormitories already, or they would have heard too. "He gets sorted into my House, he defends my House, I defend him, and the moment he gets resorted into Gryffindor, all the fortunes fall on him? Argh, why didn't I know he would be so good at Quidditch? Slytherin would have been unstoppable! CURSE YOU, POTTER!"

Outside and unseen, Dumbledore listened though the staff room door. A huge grin spread across his face. 'Yes, this is better,' he thought silently, 'this is much better indeed.'

/FIN/

A/N: So, what did you guys think of the twist ending? Just because he got sorted there, that didn't mean he wouldn't stay there. In fact, I consider this a sort of "historical hiccough," where there was a brief mix-up in the timeline of the canon story.