Disclaimer: I own nothing.

This is probably a little rushed, and I'm not sure how it's turned out. I really need reviews on this one, let me know if you think I ought to continue it.

Harry Potter had never been like the others. There had always been one rough, stubborn corner of him that refused to fit into the perfectly shaped mould. The Gryffindor mould.

Oh, he had tried to be one of them, and had even managed to be somewhat accepted into their group. The so-called "Golden Gang". Dumbledore's favourites, the group of Gryffindors who could do no wrong.

To an onlooker, Harry's school life would seem flawless, as they would see a fifteen-year-old boy, popular, with a close group of friends. But if anyone had bothered to look a little closer, they would see just how disjointed Harry's friendships actually were. They would see that his "friends" didn't really give a damn about him. The Boy-Who-Lived was nothing more to them than an accessory, not a real member of the group, not a real person at all. And they certainly made sure that Harry knew his place. Countless jokes which excluded him, looks of disgust whenever he attempted to start conversations, and long talks about girlfriends (and boyfriends in the case of the female members of the gang). These conversations were the most awkward for Harry, as they were initiated solely because his "friends" knew full well that the Boy-Who-Lived had never been in a relationship.

This treatment made it exceptionally difficult for Harry to be himself, and over time the brunette had ended up beginning to mask aspects of his personality in order to reduce the amount of teasing that he received from the Golden Gang. It had started small, simple things such as laughing at jokes that he didn't find funny. However, it had rapidly increased until finally, at the beginning of his third year at Hogwarts, there was nothing left of the real Harry Potter on show for the Golden Gang at all.

The teasing had, of course, continued. After all, the gang of Gryffindors had to remind Harry that he was the loser of the group, only allowed in because of his celebrity status as "The Boy-Who-Lived".

It was the beginning of Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts now, and nothing had changed. His so-called "friends" were gathered in a tight circle nearby, ensuring that Harry could not squeeze into the group. They were laughing and joking quietly, and the brunette had more than a sneaking suspicion that the joke was about him, as it so often was.

The new fifth years were standing outside their Charms classroom, waiting to enter for their lesson. Harry allowed his eyes to wander, resigning himself to the fact that the Golden Gang had no intention of involving him in their little joke.

His eyes came to rest on Pansy Parkinson, a petite blonde girl in Slytherin. The Golden Group frequently made comments about the girl's looks, likening her to a pug. Harry could see that Pansy was far from stunning, but he had always found his fellow Gryffindor's comments excruciatingly harsh towards the girl.

Pansy Parkinson had been the first of Harry's fellow students to talk to him. They had been seated in the same carriage of the Hogwarts Express, and the two eleven-year-olds had spent the long train journey talking about magic – Harry about his shock and awe that it existed, Pansy about growing up in a wizarding household. They had got along exceptionally well, and their conversations on the train that first year had shown a promising friendship.

However, when the scarlet steam engine had reached Hogwarts, Harry had become acquainted with Ron Weasley, a red haired boy who had instantly warned the naïve young wizard about the sorting of houses, and how everyone in the Slytherin house was "evil". Because of this, Harry had been shocked at the sheer speed in which the Sorting Hat placed Pansy into Slytherin, and when the hat mentioned putting Harry there too, he had begged it not to.

Due to the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, it was impossible for Harry and Pansy to have a real friendship. However, their meeting on the Hogwarts Express had left Harry and Pansy as acquaintances, and they would often exchange brief smiles and occasional short conversations in the corridors – when Harry's "friends" weren't around of course. Talking to a Slytherin was considered traitorous by all Gryffindors.

Pansy suddenly looked up, noticing Harry's glazed-over expression. The blonde girl smiled a small smile at the brunette, bringing him out of his stupor. Harry smiled back at her, and gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

Harry then took a look around him and realised that the Golden Gang had already entered the Charms classroom, along with almost everyone else. He quickly followed suit and walked into the room, holding the heavy wooden door open for Pansy and the Slytherins, who followed him in.

Once inside the room, Harry looked around, confused. Gone were the long rows of wooden desks that had always resided in the slightly dusty room, and in their place were a number of smaller tables. Harry gulped when he saw how many people each of the new tables seated. Six.

He glanced over at the table nearest the back of the room, already knowing what he would see. There were six people sat at the table; Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Hermione Granger, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. In other words, the whole Golden Gang other than Harry. And from the looks on their faces, they found Harry's situation hilarious.

"Come on, sit down Mr Potter," squeaked the quiet voice of Professor Flitwick from the front of the room. The rest of the class were now seated, and there were only a few places left around the room.

"You can come and sit by our table Harry. Just work on your lap!" smirked Lavender Brown, eliciting a whole new series of giggles from the Golden Gang's table.

It was at this moment that Harry realised that he had only two options in this situation. He could either go and sit by his fellow Gryffindors, allowing them to make a fool of him in front of everyone yet again, or he could sit elsewhere, and as a result be shunned by every Gryffindor in the school. This situation had occurred so many times before for Harry, and he had always chosen the first option. What was a little bit more teasing if it stopped him from getting eaten alive by his housemates?

But today was different. For Harry, Lavender's comment had been the final straw. His mind was reeling, but his body somehow stayed calm. Harry merely narrowed his eyes at the smirking Gryffindors and shook his head.

"No thanks, why should I go out of my way to sit with a bunch of losers?" he said coldly, before turning to face another table, the Slytherin table. He walked over to the table, gestured to the empty seat beside Pansy and asked calmly, "Is this seat taken?"

Everyone gasped as Pansy shook her head, and Harry had to bite back a smirk. Slytherins and Gryffindors did not sit together under any circumstances, and the rest of the room sat staring at Harry, absolutely gobsmacked. Even Professor Flitwick's eyebrows were raised considerably.

When the miniscule teacher had sufficiently recovered, he cleared his throat and the lesson finally began. Luckily for Harry, the lesson was theory work so the class was writing notes in silence. He was extremely grateful for this, and put all of his effort into making detailed notes, ignoring the stares that he was still receiving from many of his classmates. This was easy enough, until a small paper aeroplane flew across the room and landed neatly on the table in front of him. It twitched impatiently, and Harry let out a sigh before unfolding the enchanted note.

There was just one line of writing on the note, obviously written in Ron's untidy scrawl;

"We're gonna get you for this"

Harry refused to look over at the Golden Gang's table – he knew that if he did, it would mean that they had won. Instead, he continued to work hard on his notes, whilst beginning to worry about his next problem; Charms was nearly over, and it was the last lesson of the day. Where was he going to go?