The Re-Sorting

"I can't believe this rubbish!" I yelled as Harry sat down with a surprised look on his face. "There hasn't been a Re-Sorting in four centuries! There have only been three Re-Sortings in the whole history of Hogwarts! You heard what Dumbledore said, Harry. He told me three turns! If he wasn't referring to the three turns we needed to go back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak, then what was he referring to!?" Harry was staring at Dumbledore's empty chair behind his desk. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, who had been arguing against the Re-Sorting, had just left to announce that there'll be a Re-Sorting at dinner. We're supposed to wait for them to get back to discuss it more.

"Does this mean we won't be Gryffindors anymore or can we be Re-Sorted into Gryffindor?" Harry asked. "Dumbledore said that it'll be exactly like our first Sorting. He said it'd be like we'd never been Sorted before. Can we still be Gryffindors?"

"I think so, Harry, but I won't be. I don't want to be a Gryffindor anymore," I sighed. "I'm only upset about this because he's Re-Sorting me for using the Time Turner and lied about how I only did it because he told me to. I don't mind being Re-Sorted into a different House. Ron's been..." I sighed and Harry looked at me in concern. "Ron asked me out yesterday and he yelled at me when I told him that I'm gay. He said it was just a phase and that he could straighten me out and then he got angry because I punched him like I'd punched Malfoy. I was only ever friends with Ron because he was your friend, Harry. He made me cry on Halloween and almost got me killed by a Troll and he never apologised. He only came to save me because you wanted to. He expects me to do all of his homework for him and he moans when I don't. He still calls me names and argues with me... You saw how he reacted when I told him Crookshanks didn't kill his rat and when he found out that he was still alive, he didn't apologise... Honestly, Harry, I can't stand him and I refuse to put up with it anymore. No one in Gryffindor even likes me but you. I spend as much time out of the Common Room and my Dorms as I can because the girls and guys in our year love to make fun of me... Harry, other than you and Fred and George, all Gryffindors are bullies. I don't want to be a Gryffindor anymore. Ron will probably make you choose between us when I refuse to be his friend. If you get put back into Gryffindor, we'll probably not be friends anymore." Harry looked like he was thinking something through.

"I'm not going back to Gryffindor," Harry said. "Thinking about how Ron acts now... He reminds me of Dudley and I don't like it. Hell, if I hadn't been his friend, I probably would've been Malfoy's friend."

"Yeah, only his friend," I smirked and Harry blushed.

"I only said no because of what he said to Ron but Ron laughed at his name first which was really wrong of him... Looking back on everything in the last few years has really given me some perspective... I don't trust Dumbledore as much now, either."

"Me too, Harry," I said. "The third-floor corridor in our first year was so easy for us to get past as first years and it was supposed to keep Voldemort out? Hagrid just happened to know all that information to let it slip just when we needed it? Dumbledore flew to the Ministry, knowing it would take hours and that Voldemort would probably go after the Stone with him gone when he could've Flooed to the Ministry in seconds? It's too suspicious, Harry."

"Now that you're mentioning it, yeah, but that's not what I was talking about."

"What were you talking about, Harry?"

"You told me that Professors take those that are Muggle-raised to Diagon but Hagrid did and most of the time he talked about how great Dumbledore was and how horrible Slytherins were and that they were all Dark. Before the summer after our first year, I told Dumbledore that the Dursleys abuse me and he still makes me go back because of 'protections' around the house but, if that were the case, can't 'protections' be put around Wizarding houses? Like the Fidelius Charm that Sirius said was on the place he's going to and kept Voldemort from finding my parents until Pettigrew ratted them out? It's suspicious. Also, Hagrid just happened to forget to tell me how to get onto the Platform to go to Hogwarts and the Weasleys just happened to walk past mentioning Muggles and Platform Nine and three-quarters was the way they were going really loudly and Fred and George helped me put my stuff in my compartment then Ron joined saying everywhere was full but you told me before that there were many empty compartments every year on the train..."

"Not to mention everything with Lockhart," I said. "There was no way Dumbledore didn't know he was a fraud and he hired him anyway and now this! Harry, Dumbledore made Sirius the Secret Keeper and then changed it to Pettigrew. He knew Sirius was innocent and let him stay in Azkaban. He knew Sirius didn't get a trial and still let him stay there. Sirius said so, remember? When he was explaining Pettigrew's betrayal to us?"

"And Sirius is on the run even though he's innocent!" Harry looked pissed. "We've been playing into his hands all along! He let my parents' traitor go free and my only family stay in Azkaban and he makes me go back to-" Harry cut himself off as he had a look of realisation on his face. "He let Sirius stay in Azkaban and now on the run so I can't stay with him and have to go back to the Dursleys. He had Hagrid show me the Wizarding World knowing Hagrid hero-worships him for giving him a job after he got expelled and that Hagrid would mention him being Headmaster so I would be grateful to him for getting me away from the Dursleys! He sends me back there so that feeling of gratefulness comes back every year when I get back to Hogwarts... He's been manipulating me since I was a baby! ... Not anymore. The Sorting Hat offered me Slytherin when I was first Sorted and I said no because of Dumbledore's manipulations and Ron but they're both not a problem anymore. If I get that option again, I'm taking it."

"What do you mean Ron's not a problem anymore, Harry?" I asked.

"I would never choose Ron over you, Hermione. He's been like Dudley and I only stayed his friend because I got used to it and he was the first ever friend I made in the Wizarding World but you're my sister, even if we don't share blood. I'll always side with you... And, Ron's clearly homophobic and, just like you, I'm gay." I smirked at Harry.

"I know, your crush on Malfoy's obvious to anyone with eyes," I said. "But it's also clear he likes you and he hates himself for that because you denied his friendship."

"Really?"

"Yeah," I said. "All your interactions this year have been filled with a different kind of tension than last year, Harry. Plus, Malfoy blushed when he offered you to be his friend just like you did when he first said your name." Harry blushed again.

"Like you're any better with Parkinson and Greengrass," Harry teased and I blushed then frowned.

"Yeah, but you and Draco could make up now that you won't be Ron's friend anymore... They'll always hate me for being a Mudblood." Harry frowned.

"If anyone calls you that again, I'll do a Hermione."

"Do a what?"

"A Hermione," Harry grinned. "I'll punch them in the face."

"Harry!" Harry laughed. I gave him a serious look. "Harry, when you called me your sister, were you being serious?"

"No, I'm not Sirius, that's my Godfather," Harry said with a grin and I punched him on the arm. "Ow! See, definitely a Hermione... Yes, I was serious, Hermione. You're my sister."

"And you're my brother... But we could be blood siblings... I read somewhere in the library that the Goblins have Blood Adoption Rituals you can pay for to Blood Adopt someone as a child, parent, cousin or sibling. It merges the two Bloodlines together and all relatives of one become relatives of the other and vice versa. Your parents and my parents will, biologically, become our four parents... If you wanted to, that is."

"Yes, I want to, Hermione... I don't want to go back to the Dursleys, though," Harry said. "After the last two summers... They've gotten worse, Hermione."

"I don't want to go back, either," I said. "My parents were always distant after my accidental Magic started up but since I got my letter, they've been physically abusive and I can't take it anymore."

"Okay, we'll go back for a week, that should be long enough to satisfy the 'protections' Dumbledore's always talking about and we have to go back because they'll be waiting for us at the Platform, then we'll meet up in The Leaky Cauldron at lunch seven days after we arrive back from Hogwarts and go to Gringotts. I have enough money in my vault to buy a place in Diagon or to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of each summer until we graduate at the very least."

"Deal," I said.

"Look at the little children plotting," one of the Headmaster Portraits said. I think it's Phineas Black. "Dumbledore should never have left children with abusive people. Especially those with Black blood."

"Black blood?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes," he said. "I can always sense those with my blood, boy. Besides, you're Harry Potter. Your father's mother, Dorea, was Dorea Black before she married into the Potter family."

"You mean I'm related to Draco?" Harry looked pale.

"Yes, but don't worry, boy, all Purebloods, of which your father was, especially the Blacks, are inbred. There's no shame in being attracted to those you're related to... And I wasn't just referring to you being of Black blood, boy. I was referring to the girl too. A Slytherin descendant and a Black. Of course, you're also of Slytherin descent, boy, but of a different branch."

"You must be mistaken, Sir," I said. "I'm Muggleborn." I sneered at the thought of my parents. I hate them. No parent should ever harm their child.

"No, you are not," he said, sharply. "I would never mistake such strong Black blood. I've only seen such strong blood in those from the direct Black branch. Currently, I believe that's just the Blood Traitor Sirius, Bellatrix, the Blood Traitor Andromeda and Narcissa. You're not the Blood Traitors' child or Bellatrix's, everyone would know if they had had a child, so you must be Narcissa's child... A Malfoy... But you don't look like one. Someone must have Glamoured you when they stole you, Narcissa never would've willingly given up her child."

"I think he's gone mad," Harry whispered. "He thinks you're Draco's sister."

"Let's just not think about that and focus on where we're going to be Sorted," I said.

"Slytherin, obviously," Phineas said. "All Blacks, other than Sirius, have gone to Slytherin."

"My father was Gryffindor," Harry said.

"Yes, but he was a Potter, not a Black," Phineas said. "Not all descended of Black blood go to Slytherin but all those with the Black name do. You may not have the Black name currently but you both have strong Black blood in your veins. Besides, the Sorting Hat is enchanted to ensure Mudbloods aren't Slytherin. If Sorted into Slytherin, girl, it'll prove you aren't a Mudblood."