"Ugh! Run!" Ron, Harry, and Hermione shielded their heads as best they could as Peeves threw globs of something rancid at them from the ceiling, cackling with glee. Hermione screamed as a large glob hit her in the head, and Harry dove out of the way as another came sailing his way.

"C'mon, this way!" Ron was shouting, tugging at Hermione who was now in tears to pull her down a different corridor. Harry tried to follow but was stopped abruptly by half a dozen blobs being thrown in his path, so he took off in the opposite direction.

Panting Harry rounded a corner and almost ran straight through Nearly Headless Nick.

"Hurry, in here," Nick whispered, holding a tapestry aside to reveal a hidden passageway so that Harry could escape the meddlesome poltergeist.

"Thanks," Harry said as Nick let the tapestry fall flat against the wall again just in time as Harry heard Peeves cackle again closer by.

"Haven't seen any little firsties running loose have you?" he asked joyfully.

"I certainly have not," Nick said in a haughty tone.

"Awww, you ghosts are never any fun... except for target practice!" Peeves shouted. Harry heard several splats and was sure that Peeves had thrown whatever it was through the Gryffindor ghost.

Not wanting to wait for Peeves to find him, he hurried off through the cramped, low, dark corridor. He was almost to the end when he heard Draco's voice coming from the other side of a blue tapestry. He didn't want to emerge just then only to be picked on some more. Instead he looked around, hoping for another exit. He spied an arch shaped door a little ways back down the hall and headed for it, hoping it wasn't locked. Luckily it wasn't, and he pushed the heavy door open, falling into a tiny, cramped room.

"Lumos," he whispered, still fearful that Peeves might find him. His wand tip lit up and revealed the room to be empty. There was not even a chair. Thinking that perhaps the room might have held a very tiny bed at one time, Harry wondered what its purpose was. The corridor outside was certainly tiny enough that he didn't think adults would ever use it, because anybody taller than him would have had to crouch to fit inside.

Harry sat down on the floor cross-legged, willing to wait it out and hope that one of the two corridors on either side of the hidden one would be empty in a short while so that he could escape and find Ron and Hermione. He hoped they were all right and that Hermione wouldn't cry for too long. He hated to see his friend upset.

As Harry sat there wondering when it would be safe to emerge from his new hiding place, he reflected on how Hermione and some of the other Gryffindors in his year had now become his friends. Even a few students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were talking to him now that he wasn't in trouble all the time.

Harry looked at his watch. It had been ten minutes since he'd found the room, and he thought it was time to check the entrances. He didn't want to chance the entrance he'd come in through in case Peeves was still lurking looking for him, so he tried the blue tapestry he'd heard Draco near, and was pleased to find the corridor beyond void of anybody except a suit of armor bearing the title: "Guardian of the Meek."

"Hm," Harry said as he read the title, wondering what it meant, but making a note of how the suit of armor looked in case he had to find the hidden place again to hide in.

The suite of armor rattled a little, and Harry took a step back, startled. "Er... thanks?" he asked. He wasn't sure but he thought he saw the helmet give a slight nod, and he hurried off to find his friends.

Ron was in the common room in a new pair of clothes and he looked relieved to see Harry.

"Did he hit you?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, I found a good place to hide. What about you?"

"He got me in the chest and hit Hermione square in the back of the head... she's showering now... I think it was rancid yak butter or something.... Ugh. Disgusting!"

Harry nodded in agreement. "Wonder where he got it."

"I bet he made it himself and let it go bad just to have something to throw at us... I bet he's got a stash of disgusting things someplace to use on us just to make us miserable." Harry screwed up his nose in disgust at the thought, wondering just what else Peeves might have in store for them throughout the year. He'd already drenched Neville and Parvati on the fifth floor with water balloons suspected of being filled with pee the week before, and had even gotten Draco and his crowd with some kind of dung near the beginning of the year.

Hermione appeared a little while later, eyes red and hair wet.

"Get it all out?" Ron asked. She nodded and gave a sniff.

"I don't know why they let such a disgusting monster roam the school."

"At least he gets the Slytherins too," Harry said. Ron sniggered. Hermione however was not laughing in the least and said something about taking a nap before starting in on her homework.

Ron stuck his tongue out at the thought of doing homework on a Saturday afternoon however and suggested a game of exploding snap to Harry, who nodded enthusiastically. It was nice to be all caught up on homework and have time to play games on the weekend. Dean and Seamus joined in the game after a while and soon the four boys were laughing with every small explosion, especially the one that caught Seamus' hair on fire.

When Hermione reappeared later, Ron and Harry agreed to get in some study time before dinner, although reluctantly, and put the game away.

At dinner Ron said something to Hermione that she didn't like and Hermione stormed out of the Great Hall, Ron chasing after her trying to apologize, leaving Harry by himself at the table.

When he was full, Harry skipped desert and left the table, thinking of finding his friends in the common room. The castle was quiet and empty as he ascended towards Gryffindor tower, because most people were still down at dinner. Harry was just wondering if his friends had worked out their disagreement when he heard something that sounded like a shoe scuffle behind him, and he turned expecting to see Ron or Hermione. Instead he found no one.

Huh, that was odd, he thought. He was in a straight empty corridor with no doors or corners, so there was no place anybody could hide... there weren't even any tapestries to hide secret places. Thinking he was imagining it, Harry moved off again to find his friends, and no sooner had he done this than he heard the noise again behind him.

This time he turned and pulled his wand out, wondering if perhaps Peeves was lurking, ready to throw more yak butter at him. He didn't see the poltergeist however, or even one of the school ghosts.

"Is anybody there?" Harry asked, wondering again if his mind was playing tricks on him.

He was just about to turn away and start moving again when suddenly he was flying through the air and landing on his back hard on the stone floor.

Dazed he looked around for what had hit him. It was as if something large had tackled him, but there was nothing in sight. He realized he must have dropped his wand somewhere and spotted it rolling across the floor a few feet away. He moved to grab it, wondering if there was any spell he knew that could help, when suddenly he was being kicked by his invisible attacker.

"Hey!" Harry shouted, "Ouch! Stop! Wait!" He was scrambling, trying to get up, but something kept pushing him back down, and kicking him hard, first in the leg, then the side, then a good solid stomp on the stomach that knocked the wind out of him so that he couldn't shout anymore. Just when Harry thought it was hopeless and that he might die there from being beaten, he heard a shout ring out across the hall and footsteps running towards him.

The beating stopped and Harry lay there dazed, stomach, and side aching horribly. Suddenly Snape was standing over him looking confused and worried.

"Potter, Potter look at me."

Harry was gasping for breath, grasping desperately at his stomach. "Help," was all he managed to get out. He was confused and was unsure if his invisible attacker would come back or not. Was it a ghost? Could ghosts turn completely invisible? He didn't know but he was grateful that somebody had showed up to help, even if it was Snape.

"Stay behind me Potter," Snape breathed to him quietly, standing up and turning his back on Harry so that he could scan the hall for any sign of whoever or whatever was hurting him.

"Accio cloak," Snape said, but nothing happened. Severus narrowed his eyes and ran a few other spells checking for any cloaking charms. When he was satisfied that they were alone, he returned his attention to the student lying on the floor.

"What happened?"

Harry shook his head. "I, I don't know. I was going back to Gryffindor and, and then I was on the floor and somebody was kicking me, but I couldn't see anybody." Snape growled faintly at the look of confusion on Harry's face, but Harry didn't hear it.

"Do you know who would want to do this?"

Harry bit his lip and looked away. Didn't everybody want to do this to Harry? Wasn't that normal? This was not the worst beating he had received, not by a long shot.

Seeing the unsurprised look on Harry's face Severus cursed himself, realizing that Harry believed he deserved it.

"Listen to me Potter, whoever did this is going to be caught. There is no reason for anybody to treat you this way."

Harry shrugged, but didn't say anything. Not that he liked being tackled and kicked half to death, but it wasn't that big a deal was it? Yes, it was scary that his attacker was invisible, but seeing Uncle Vernon kick him into unconsciousness in person wasn't any better.

After checking one more time for anybody invisible that might still be near by, Snape insisted on escorting Harry to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey promptly healed Harry's new large bruises and gave him a thorough checking over to make sure he hadn't broken anything. The Headmaster was also called from dinner, and Harry was forced to retell his story to him. Harry didn't notice it, but Severus kept giving Dumbledore looks that clearly said, ‘See? He believes this is not a big deal.'

After the Headmaster promised that Harry would be kept safe, Severus saw Harry back to his common room and told him to stay put. Ron and Hermione were not there, and Harry feared for their safety. It was not long however before students began filing into the common room, complaining about having to leave dinner early.

"What's going on?" a sixth year asked, seeing that Harry was already in the common room. "They came and told everybody to get back to their common rooms and stay there."

Harry shrugged, and ran to Ron as he saw him and Hermione enter behind a group of third years.

"I was worried about you," Harry said, pulling them into a private corner of the common room. "Somebody invisible got me on second floor and then I couldn't find you when I got back here."

Ron frowned. "What do you mean somebody invisible got you?"

For a third time in the last hour Harry explained about the attack to horrified looks from his friends.

"That's horrible Harry! Are you alright?"

Harry nodded. "Snape rescued me and forced me into the Hospital wing... I only had bruises but I'm ok now. I guess they're searching for whoever... or whatever it was. How can somebody just go all invisible like that?"

Hermione looked thoughtful. "They can't by themselves. They have to have an invisibility cloak and they are really rare."

"Cool," Ron said at the thought of owning one.

"Ronald, this is serious," Hermione said, "Somebody's out to get Harry."

"Maybe not," Harry said hopefully, "maybe they're out to get whoever was out from dinner?"

"Doubtful," she said. "I can't see somebody going to the trouble of finding an invisibility cloak just to attack any regular student. I think they were waiting for you."

Harry sighed and bit his lip lightly. "You're not helping Hermione," Ron told her with a frown.

Hermione returned the look with a "Hmpf," and went up to her dorm.

"Girls," Ron said, shaking his head. Harry shrugged and he and Ron went up to their dorm as well to get away from the noisy crowd in the common room.

Harry was summoned by Professor McGonagall the next day, and was taken to her office where he was told that they had found nobody with an invisibility cloak. All students and staff had been accounted for and several protection wards had been checked around the school to make sure that no intruders had gotten in.

"You would be well advised to travel in groups with friends or staff Mr. Potter," she told him. "We don't know if this was an isolated incident solely revolving around you, or if there is a menace out there aiming for any student."

"Yes maam," he told her.

"I would not take this lightly Mr. Potter," she said, remembering her conversation with Severus earlier in the day about how Harry seemed to take being hurt as if nothing was out of the ordinary, although he hadn't told her why Harry was like that.

"Yes maam," he said again before returning to his common room.

For the next week Harry did as he was told, and the rest of the students seemed to want to travel in packs as well, but there were no more attacks. Harry had nearly forgotten about it by the next Friday, except that Ron and Hermione seemed keen on not leaving him alone... ever. Harry had to fight Ron off just to get some time alone in the bathroom.

"Really Ron, I'll be fine," Harry said. "I'll meet you back in the common room in a minute, just give me a minute." Ron looked dubious, but agreed to let Harry use the toilet without him waiting outside the stall.

"Ok, well, if you need any help..."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't need you to wipe, thanks," he said jokingly as Ron pulled a face and left the bathroom to go back to Gryffindor tower.

After he finished up he left the bathroom and reveled a little bit in the freedom he felt at being alone. He'd only taken a few steps however when he'd been knocked flat on the floor. This time he didn't wait to be kicked and rolled away quickly, scrambling to his feet. He heard footsteps coming down the hall and suddenly Ron appeared, looking out of breath.

"Are you ok? I heard a noise!"

Harry looked around wildly, and waited to be knocked flat again, but nothing happened. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's nothing," he said, wondering if maybe he had just tripped and gotten confused or something. It didn't stop him from jumping lightly whenever he heard a noise after that however.

Another few days passed without incident, and the students seemed to be tiring of traveling in groups. Even Ron and Hermione had decided to give Harry some of his space and privacy back, for which Harry was grateful, although he was a little nervous about it.

He tried to stick to the common room as much as possible, but soon boredom got to him, and he decided that he needed a trip to the Owlery to see Hedwig.

Once in the Owlery with his pet Harry forgot all about being cautious about his attacker. Hedwig nipped him affectionately and he sat for half an hour petting her snow white feathers absentmindedly. Finally he looked at his watch and decided that he'd better head out if he wanted to be back before curfew, and said goodbye to his winged friend.

Happy, Harry made his way back towards the common room, not fearing an attack until he found himself once again splayed out on his back on the cold stone floor in a darkened corridor. This time he had not time at all to roll away before he was being kicked and punched. He flailed his arms wildly but couldn't defend himself properly if he couldn't see where to block. After a few good kicks in the stomach he couldn't breath at all, and was gasping desperately for even a wisp of air. He felt a fist land solidly with his face and tasted blood. Unlike the previous two attacks, Harry heard no footsteps coming to his aide, and he began to feel desperate. Who was this doing this to him and why?

"You there! Stop this instant!" Harry glimpsed something white and shimmering swoop by overhead and heard an icy strangled scream as Nearly Headless Nick flew through the invisible person on top of Harry. Harry rolled away immediately once the weight of the other person was off of him, and began to crawl, coughing and sputtering for air to any safe place he could find.

"Go Harry! Now!" Nick shouted after him as Harry tried to get up but couldn't, crawling instead down the hallway as Nick swooped back and forth behind him through whoever was there, giving them a horrible freezing pins and needles sensation.

Somehow Harry managed to crawl far enough down the corridor to meet another hall and crawl around the corner. A few feet down this hall and he heard a rattling. He looked up and saw the suit of armor guarding his secret place, and got to his knees, lifting the tapestry and falling inside the hallway. Feeling somewhat safe here but not quite he army crawled as best he could to the doorway and fell into the tiny dark room, closing the door behind him. He was still panting and gasping for breath. His head was spinning in the dark and Harry leaned up against a wall for support so that he didn't completely collapse to the ground. He dare not light his wand for fear it would somehow give his location away.

Sleep was tugging at him, and he tried to fight it, but soon found himself drifting in and out of consciousness. He lost count of how many times he had fallen asleep and woken when he heard the door creak open and heard Nick's voice filter in through the darkness.

"I showed him this hiding place a few weeks ago Professor, he might be in here..."

"Potter?" Harry moaned at the sound of Snape's voice, thankful that it was him that had found him and not the invisible evil that was plaguing him.

"Lumos," Snape was crouching in the doorway. He stepped inside and down into the room, and Harry was surprised and confused that Snape was suddenly kneeling by him.

"We have to get him to the Hospital Wing," Severus said over his shoulder to the Gryffindor ghost. "You said you can see the invisible man?"

"Yes indeed. I cannot tell who it is but I can see a shimmer where the cloak makes him invisible. That is how I was able to stop him."

"You keep watch then. I can't get him out of here if we're being attacked."

"Of course," the ghost said and floated out the doorway and to the end of the corridor to stand guard.

"Harry." Harry tried to focus on the gentle voice... somebody was talking to him. He squinted in the dim light at the face and was unsure of what was going on. His stomach was turning and he felt the familiar urge to vomit.

"Gonna be sick," he said, trying to cover his mouth but failing as he spewed all over the place.

"Ugh," he groaned, feeling embarrassed that he had just thrown up on whoever was there to rescue him.

He heard a familiar voice utter some kind of spell and felt the barf vanish off of his clothes and out of his mouth.

"Come, it will be a tight fit, but I believe I can carry you out of here."

Suddenly Harry was being lifted by strong arms and he grasped for something to hold on to. He found a neck and held tight, burying his face into the robes of his rescuer.

It was indeed a tight fit as Severus crouched very low while carrying Harry out of the four foot tall tunnel and out into the open. Nick floated along before them keeping an eye out in every direction for anybody who might be invisible.

"M, m, my, wh, what h, has, happ, happened?"

Severus carried Harry past the stuttering Quirill, who looked worried.

"There has been another attack. If you were doing your job properly this wouldn't have happened," Severus said annoyed. He hurried past the worthless Defense professor and left him standing there in the darkened corridor as he carried his charge past hurriedly.

When Harry next awoke he was being laid gently on a soft bed in the Hospital Wing and Madam Pomfrey was fussing over him. He was unconscious before he could hear what all the fuss was about however.

"He's got three broken ribs and internal bleeding," she said hurriedly as she set to work, Nick still standing guard and Snape standing with his arms crossed watching her work. "Another concussion and a fractured femur... large contusions over his back, jaw and stomach." She looked sickened as she spoke, hating to see anybody injured so by a violent act.

"Will he be ok?" Nick asked.

"Thanks to you two he will. I'll keep him for a few days if you'll stand guard," she told the ghost, who stuck his chin up proudly and nodded. "Anything for a student my dear lady."

Harry woke again briefly when Snape and Pomfrey rolled him onto his side so she could work on his back to heal the contusions and stop some of the internal bleeding. "Thank goodness you found him Severus... I don't know how much longer he would have lasted without healing..." So it was professor Snape who had found him? Harry drifted off again.

Sun streamed into the ward and Harry groaned as he shielded his eyes from the unwelcome intrusion. "Mmmm," he mumbled incoherently, wondering how it had become day so quickly.

"He's awake," Harry heard a man say, and then Madam Pomfrey was there fussing over him, making him swallow something nasty tasting and making him sit up.

Harry tried to avert his eyes so that he wasn't looking at Professor Snape. Now that he was awake he remembered throwing up all over him in the dark hidden room, and thought he might die of embarrassment.

"You've been sleeping for near three days Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey said. "You gave us quite a scare. Nasty business it is healing injuries the likes of which you had."

"Oh... thanks," Harry mumbled as she handed him a cup of water to get the taste of the potion out of his mouth. He used drinking it as an excuse not to look at his professor.

Once Pomfrey had left and Harry's water had gone he had nowhere to look except down at his lap.

"That's twice Potter... twice that you would have been dead if somebody hadn't come along. Why were you out alone?"

Harry bit his lip. "M'sorry."

Severus sighed. "The ghosts have been searching the school since the attack and have found nothing. Student dorms and staff offices have been checked, and no cloak has been found. Someone is out to get you, and you are running around unguarded without any thought to self preservation."

Harry continued to look at his blankets covering his lap. "M'sorry."

"Really, because one would think you don't even want to live running around after hours alone."

Harry put his head in his hands and held tight. He knew he was stupid, he knew he was bad and couldn't do things right, and he knew by all rights he deserved to be beaten by whoever it was, but he could only say sorry so many times. What else was he supposed to say except, ‘sorry for barfing all over you professor,' though he couldn't bring himself to even bring that up.

Severus' voice softened a little at seeing the emotional state Harry was in. "Somebody is out to get you, and you have to be careful. There may come a time when somebody will not always be there to save you, and you must either save yourself or keep yourself from needing saving in the first place."

Harry nodded, but as he thought about it he realized that the Potion's Master had been the one around to save him the last half dozen times... he had saved him from Draco, another group of Slytherins, his invisible attacker during the first attack, and a number of other times over the last few weeks whenever somebody thought it was funny to corner him.

"You're always there," Harry suddenly said, looking up and startling the man by looking into his eyes.

Severus hadn't meant to see into the boy's mind, but the boy had looked up at him so quickly it had startled him, and then before he knew it he was feeling guilt and confusion and embarrassment, and something else confusing altogether... gratitude?

Quickly he backed away and out of the boy's mind. Harry didn't seem to realize what had happened, but looked down nonetheless.

"Thank you," Harry said quietly to his blankets.

Severus scratched the back of his neck. "You are welcome. See that you do not put yourself in danger again or I will punish you."

Harry nodded and said quietly, "Yes sir." Inside he was so confused. Not two months ago he was here in this very bed recovering from being thrown headfirst into a wall by this man, and now he was sitting there thanking him for saving him several times over. What was wrong here? He definitely deserved to be punished... he deserved everything he got, but he was afraid for it too. He was afraid to be attacked wherever he went, and the only person who made him feel remotely safe was the man sitting in a chair beside his bed telling him that he would punish him.

"I have classes to prepare for," Snape suddenly said, and stood up.

"No," Harry reached out for Snape's wrist to stop him but missed, suddenly feeling awkward that he had shouted out. Severus seemed as surprised by the move as he did, looking down at Harry's hand.

"What?"

"Er... I'm sorry... never mind." God, the confusion was eating him alive inside! Why had he done that? Stupid, stupid!

"I will check back later," Severus said slowly, and then walked off, confusion beginning to eat at him as well.

When he was gone Madam Pomfrey came over again with another potion. "He hasn't left for two days you know... been standing guard over you while you slept." When Harry had taken the potion she left him to his thoughts again, and Harry almost wished she hadn't told him that, because it just complicated the feelings inside him that he didn't know how to express. He'd never had anybody look out for him, ever. Nobody had ever watched over him while he was sick or hurting, nobody had ever tried to save him, and nobody had ever cared enough to punish him to teach him a lesson so that he could be safe... punishments had always been for hurting before, but somehow when Snape said he would punish him if it happened again, Harry knew it was for his own well-being.

Harry lay back on his pillow and wished he could fall asleep to get away from his feelings, but no such reprieve came.