It took Dumbledore and Snape three days to track down Harry’s attackers. They turned out to belong to Death Eater Pureblood families (explaining their antipathy towards Harry) who had run afoul of Lucius Malfoy’s ruthless drive for power (hence their targeting Draco). The boys were summarily expelled – to Snape’s satisfaction and Dumbledore’s sorrow – and Snape subsequently held a spine-chilling all-House meeting where he made it clear that he expected his students to make their own choices in life, rather than blindly following their parents’ views (he looked hard at Draco at this point). Further, he absolutely would not tolerate external rivalries invading the House of Slytherin. By the time Snape had finished, most of the first years and some of the upper years were sniveling in terror, and his students felt the two expelled boys had been lucky to have escaped his wrath. Compared to what Snape promised to do to any other students who embarrassed the House, let alone attacked a fellow Snake, the two had received a very merciful punishment indeed.

Once the three boys left Hogwarts, accompanied by their irate parents, Harry and Draco’s protective custody in the Infirmary had finally ended. Though both loudly proclaimed delight at the end of their enforced companionship, they had in fact maintained a reasonably cordial relationship during their time together. “Friendship” might be too strong a term, but with no one else to talk to, both found loneliness even less attractive than interaction with each other. Of course, they didn’t advertise the fact to anyone else, though Snape, Pomfrey, Dumbledore, and McGonagall, the only other people they saw for the three days, noted the new détente with varying levels of amusement and satisfaction.

Draco was collected by Snape in time for their all-House meeting, while McGonagall came for Harry. No sooner had they entered the Gryffindor Tower than Hermione hurtled into him, giving him a fierce hug that left him breathless. “Are you okay? I was so worried!”

“I’m fine, ‘Mione. Honest. Even Madame Pomfrey says so.”

“Good.” She promptly socked him in the arm, eliciting a yelp. “Don’t you ever keep a secret like that again, Harry Potter!”

“Really, Miss Granger,” Professor McGonagall said reprovingly. “If you re-injure Mr Potter, Madame Pomfrey will be very cross with you.” Hermione colored while Harry grinned, but the two reversed their roles when McGonagall continued, “However, I for one am sympathetic to your feelings. Mr Potter,” she bent to look directly into his eyes, “in future, when you have a problem, please do not shut me out. I was a friend to both your parents, I am your Head of House, and I care about you. Please remember that. You are not alone.”

Harry felt his eyes fill with tears and he had to look away from the elderly witch’s steady gaze before he disgraced himself by bawling like a toddler. He could feel Hermione slipping her hand into his, and he squeezed hard. “Thank you, P’fessor,” he mumbled around the sudden lump in his throat.

She straightened and patted him briskly on the shoulder. “You’re welcome, Harry. Please remember what I said. Next time, I may – like Miss Granger – be unable to restrain myself,” She gave him a surprisingly impish grin and left them.

“Did Professor McGonagall just make a joke?” Hermione asked incredulously.

“No, I think she just threatened to swat me.” Harry sighed, but he couldn’t really muster much of a feeling of indignation. He still was pleasantly surprised by people caring about him, worrying about him, and getting cross with him for not letting them help. After a decade with the Dursleys, having to rely only on himself, it was a delicious but novel sensation to have people on his side and eager to take care of him… even if they did have a tendency to demonstrate their regard by smacking him.

Suddenly Harry realized what was missing. “’Mione, where’s Ron?”

She frowned worriedly. “Oh, Harry. I’m glad you’re back. He’s been acting so oddly. Ever since he got that headache, he just hasn’t been himself. He was gone for a while the same night you went to the Infirmary, and he’s just been so quiet ever since. He doesn’t argue with me when I say we need to study, and he’s not even eating much!”

Harry’s eyes widened. This was indeed serious!  Promising Hermione that he’d try to learn what was bothering their friend, Harry went up to his dorm room. Sure enough, Ron was there, lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

As soon as Harry entered, Ron swung himself into a sitting position, and a genuine smile spread across his face when he saw who it was. “Harry! It’s good to see you, mate! How are you feeling?’

“I’m fine,” Harry answered, dropping beside him on the bed. “Madame Pomfrey would have released me before this, but she was waiting for the Headmaster to get rid of those three. See?” He twisted around and yanked up his shirt, revealing unblemished skin.

Ron looked happy, but it was only a faint shadow of his usual smile. “Great. And you survived having Malfoy as a roommate?”

“Well, after surviving you, I can live with anyone!” Harry joked, then ducked Ron’s half-hearted swipe. “Nah, seriously, it wasn’t that bad. I was glad Snape hadn’t given him back his wand, but he was actually pretty decent. I mean, Snape practically made him believe he owed me a Life Debt; I guess he figured he couldn’t be too snotty. He was still an arrogant arse, but nowhere near as bad as he’s been. He’s actually a good chess player so we mostly played that and talked Quidditch and stuff.”

“Well, he didn’t have his wand or his goons and he knew Snape was already mad at him, so he’d better mind his manners.” Ron nodded.

“Hey, speaking of Snape, are you okay? I mean, last time I saw you, you had smarted off to the Headmaster and you had actually punched Snape. What did he do to you? I couldn’t believe Dumbledore just left you there with him like that. I figured he would chop you up for Potions, but then no one would tell me what had happened, and I didn’t want to push too hard in front of Draco.”

Ron looked away. “Yeah, it’s okay. He wasn’t happy, but he didn’t go mental or anything. I wasn’t expelled.”

“Well, yeah, obviously. He didn’t give you three years of detention with Filch or anything?”

“Nah.”

Harry frowned, but Ron’s body language made it clear he didn’t want to discuss the matter. “Hermione says you haven’t been acting normally for the last few days. Anything wrong?”

“Just missing you, I guess,” Ron said, making a kissy-face expression.

Harry retaliated with a pillow, and the topic was dropped in the ensuing fight, just as Ron had intended.