Slytherin

Warnings: Eventual Slash, Language, Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Prologue

Sometimes Harry Potter was forced to look back over his life, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

It would be just his luck if he was still little ten-year-old Harry, locked away in the cupboard with no end to his suffering and misfortune. Perhaps he had never received his letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it was all a dream.

But the events of his life were almost too strange to be imagined or created by a delusional mind.

It was three years ago that the giant Hagrid had found Harry in the most unlikely of places, far from his usual home, and had taken him away from his aunt and uncle and their behemoth son. That day was like being born again to Harry. His life finally made sense, finally had a meaning.

He'd started his first year at Hogwarts on that September 1st, three years ago, and had been sorted into Slytherin House, the House of his parents' murderer, Voldemort. Also the House of Blaise Zabini, Harry's first Slytherin friend; and of Draco Malfoy, the boy who against all odds had become one of Harry's best mates.

He'd also befriended Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, both Gryffindors. Though Ron and Draco would never be made to see eye-to-eye, Blaise had gotten somewhat close to Ron and Hermione. At least, they could tolerate each other.

Still, sometimes Harry wished that Draco, Ron and Hermione could get on. It was Draco that Harry felt most responsible for. Draco was the first wizarding person of his age, after all, even if the encounter hadn't really gone over that well.

But when Harry looked back over his life in the wizarding world, all of the interesting parts (that didn't involve Voldemort) included Draco in one way or another.

For instance, in Harry and Draco's first year, it had been Draco who paced Snape's office after their first flying lesson, insisting that Harry was made Seeker on Slytherin's Quidditch team, when he'd wanted the position himself.

It had been Draco who'd woken Harry and Blaise late one night and forced them to go exploring the castle, causing them to stumble upon Fluffy the enormous three-headed dog that had nearly ripped them to pieces.

And it was Draco who had believed Harry when Harry was convinced that Snape, Draco's own godfather, was working for Voldemort and trying to kill him. Draco who had demanded on a blood pact between Blaise, Harry and himself to keep Harry safe.

Second year, Draco had come back to Hogwarts much quieter than he had been. He was much taller than he had been just a few months before. His hair was lighter, his eyes were grayer, and his complexion paler. He'd confessed to Harry that his mother had used charms on him to make him look more ''like a Malfoy." He'd spent days obsessing over the changes to his appearance because he thought he looked too much like his father.

Second year was when Draco's father had bought Slytherin team Nimbus 2001's, ensuring Draco the position of Chaser. Draco had felt that Harry would hate him for buying his way onto the team and tried to quit before Harry pointed out that Draco was actually a very good player.

Second year was Harry and Draco's first real fight, because Harry knew that Lucius Malfoy had given Ginny Weasley Tom Riddle's diary, and Draco wouldn't believe him. Then Harry had freed one of the Malfoy's house elves, and Harry was sure that his friendship with Draco was over. But Draco refused to stop being friends. He said he wouldn't permit it. And Draco usually got what he wanted.

In third year, Draco was distant for a good portion of term. Harry was too busy obsessing over Sirius Black to notice. Blaise had to point out to him that something was wrong, but even then Harry didn't believe it.

Harry had realized Blaise was right when he overheard him and Draco one night after Christmas holidays. He would never forget it, because Draco was crying, and Draco had never cried before, not that Harry knew of. He was panicked, telling Blaise that he was doomed, because Malfoy's just weren't gay but Draco was and his father was going to positively murder him if he found out. And Harry found that he couldn't breathe, because he had never expected any of this to happen. But he still went into the bathroom where Draco and Blaise were talking and he made Draco see that no, Harry didn't hate him, and he never would.

Then Harry, being Gryffindorishly inept as he was, had told Seamus about Draco's romantic preferences, because Seamus was also gay, so he would understand, right? But Seamus hated Draco and had told Ron, who loathed Draco and came to Harry, thrilled at the idea of outing Draco to the entire school. Harry had never been so angry. He had held his best friend at wand-point that day, and made him swear not to tell a soul, except Hermione, who already knew anyway. And that was that.

And that was how Harry had reached his fourth year at Hogwarts.

He had had a...different summer after the end of third year. He highly doubted that it could be called good, or even better than his previous few stays at the Dursley's. Ever since he had told his uncle about his godfather, Sirius Black the mass murderer, the Dursleys had tried very hard not to upset Harry. In other words, they ignored Harry entirely. This could be seen as an improvement from their previous hostility, but it didn't really make Harry feel any better.

Then, he got two letters from, one from the Weasleys and one from Draco, both asking him to the Quidditch World Cup. Draco's letter had come first, though, and so Harry had gone with the Malfoy's.

It had been entertaining to see Lucius Malfoy-no matter how much Harry hated him-standing in the Dursley's living room wearing intricate robes with a house elf at his heel. Uncle Vernon had been torn between his hatred of magic and his instinct to kiss up to rich, influential people and the result had been a lot of stuttering and flinching, which amused Harry to no end.

The stay at Malfoy Manor hadn't been much more comfortable than the Dursley's, though. It was the exact opposite of staying with the Weasley's-Mr. Malfoy spent almost the entire summer at his job at the Ministry of Magic and Mrs. Malfoy was the exact opposite of Mrs. Weasley. She was distant and remained locked in her rooms for most of Harry's stay. And Draco didn't seem to act like his usual self at all-he became stiff and took on a monotone voice with large amounts of sneering.

But it had been worth it to go to the Quidditch game. All the people, the leprechauns, the veela-Harry especially liked the veela, which annoyed Draco quite a bit.

After the attack on the campsite, Lucius Malfoy had approached the Weasley's and spoke civilly with Arthur long enough to trade-off Harry, saying Harry'd be more comfortable at the Burrow. Harry did agree, but couldn't shake off the guilt at leaving Draco there all by himself.

But the rest of the summer had been good fun. Playing Quidditch with Ron and the twins and having meals with the Weasley family who ate together and talked and laughed. It had been some of the best few weeks Harry had ever had.

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