A soft clearing of someone's throat jerked him away from his thoughts. Harry turned his head and was surprised to see his head of house sitting in the chair beside his bed.

"Sir?" Harry asked, "What happened?"

Glancing around he could see that it was clearly nighttime. There was no sunlight streaming through the many infirmary windows. He studied his professor and saw that he had a stack of parchment beside him and seemed to be writing on one.

"What's the last thing you remember, Mr. Potter?"

"Uh, I don't... I think... I was at breakfast?" Harry stammered. He still wasn't a fan of being in such close proximity to an adult and he couldn't string his thoughts together very well.

Snape nodded, "Yes, you had just received your mail when there was quite a bit of commotion at the Slytherin table."

"But sir, I don't think... I mean... I'm not sure I follow. I don't know anyone who would send me any mail." Harry was confused. He hadn't gotten any mail ever. Unless, of course, you counted his Hogwarts letter.

"Well this morning you had a whole pile of letters. I don't mean to be blunt, Mr. Potter, but someone tried to do you serious harm by sending a cursed letter. Have you had any trouble with anyone in your classes?"

"No, sir." Harry couldn't believe any harm could come from a letter. What kind of harm? How did he get to the hospital wing? Most importantly, who sent the letter?

"It was sent by a school owl," Snape continued as if he could read Harry's thoughts. "You must be careful, even with people you believe to mean you no harm. If you suspect anyone you steer clear of them and come directly to me. Do you understand?"

Harry could only nod. Someone at Hogwarts wanted to hurt him? He had a million questions but he knew better than to ask.

"Seeing as you are well," Snape interrupted his thoughts. "I will leave you to your rest."

The man picked up all of his things, and paused for a moment before turning and walking out of the infirmary.

Harry leaned back, relaxing into the pillows. Well, this had been one hell of a day. He tried to think of anyone who could have wanted to hurt him and no one came to mind. The Gryffindors weren't overly nice to him, but it wasn't so much him as a person but as a Slytherin. They didn't particularly like the Sytherins, but as Harry was learning not many people outside of his house did.

He decided to talk to Draco about it tomorrow and let his eyes close.

When Harry woke again he heard voices.

"Well shut up before you wake him!"

"No, you shut up! Your quill is making so much noise just scritch scratch all afternoon! I swear I'll go mad if you don't stop already!"

Harry opened his eyes to see Draco and Blaise sitting in chairs beside his bed.

"Hey guys," Harry interrupted.

Both boys jerked and turned to him.

"Good to see you awake, mate!" Draco exclaimed, obviously already forgetting about his irritation with Blaise.

"How long was I out for?" Harry asked.

"A day and a half! You missed our first potions class you know. I swear the look on those Gryffindors' faces when Snape was giving his little speech. It looked as if they were going to wet their pants!"

Harry leaned back against the pillows. He wasn't sure how he felt about missing potions. On one hand he had been terribly nervous just thinking about having to concentrate on making a potion while he knew his teacher was watching him. On the other hand he knew he was good at elementary chemistry and cooking so perhaps it would be a way to prove himself.

"Well I am sorry I missed that," Harry said replying to Blaise's comments about the Gryffindors. It wasn't right the way they thought they were better than everyone else. It would have been nice to see them taken down a couple of notches.

"Yeah well we have it again in a couple days and I'm sure that Snape won't let the Gryffindor's get away with anything in his class," Draco replied with a smirk.

Harry nodded, "What else did I miss?"

"Well, you didn't miss much. Although the girls were pretty spooked about all the blood. "

Harry groaned, "Was it really that bad?"

Blaise and Draco exchanged a look.

"It wasn't good if that's what you're asking! You've really got to be more careful with your mail. Although someone should have been checking it for you. I mean, you are the Boy-Who-Lived and you were just sorted into Syltherin. You would think Dumbledore or someone would take bigger precautions." Draco explained.

Harry shook his head, "It came from Hogwarts."

"What!" Draco and Blaise exclaimed.

"Yeah, Snape told me when I first woke up. He said I had to be on my guard."

Draco shook his head, "It better not be anyone from Syltherin. Not only would Snape kill them but so would the rest of the house. I bet it was some Gryffindor!"

"It sure is possible," Blaise agreed.

After the silence began to make him uncomfortable Harry said, "So what else did I miss?"

"Seamus Finnegan practically blew up the charms classroom trying to get his feather to levitate." Draco told him.

All three boys began to laugh as Draco and Blaise filled Harry in on the day he missed.

 Harry was more than relieved when Madam Pomfrey released him the next day. His friends had left him with schoolwork the day before but he had finished that in a couple of hours. If she had kept him another day he was going to go crazy.

The first thing that Harry did once he left the infirmary was go down to the dungeons. It was the first weekend at Hogwarts and he really did need to start on his reading. He had bought many books while in Diagon Ally and he wanted to start learning more about life as a wizard. Living in Syltherin he didn't want to draw attention by asking too many questions.

Surprisingly there were no lower years in the common room. In fact, there weren't many people at all. Only a couple of sixth years were huddled over something in the corner. At least he wouldn't have to explain what he was doing to his friends.

After grabbing his books Harry headed to the library. He was drawn to the back corner where he knew he wouldn't be seen. He went by the cases of books and spread all of his things around him. He opened the first book and began to read.

Harry was fully engrossed in a book about a young wizard when he heard a sniffle from behind. Curious, Harry put down his book and turned behind him. A girl had her head down on the table behind him and her shoulders were shaking.

Harry got up to see what was wrong when he noticed she was wearing Gyffindor colors. He paused for a second as he recognized her bushy hair. It was Hermione Granger sitting at the table crying.

He didn't know much about her but he did know that she was a know it all. He had been hearing Draco complaining about her since their first class they shared with Gryffindor. While he knew that his friends wouldn't approve he couldn't just walk away.

"Hey, I'm Harry," he said, sliding into the chair next to her. He watched as she picked up her head, her eyes red and puffy.

"Hello," she said in a small voice. She looked at him for a moment before averting her eyes.

"You're Hermione, right?" he asked and she nodded. "What's wrong?"

Hermione shook her head, "Everyone hates me!"

"Come on, its only your first week here how can anyone hate you?"

Hermione shrugged, "I heard the girls in my dorm talking about me. I just... I know that they don't like me. The others feel the same way. I don't know why but I thought things would be different here."

Harry empathized with her. He knew what it was like for everyone to hate you, that's for sure.

"Before I came to Hogwarts I didn't have any friends either," he told her.

She looked at him skeptically, "I've seen you surrounded by people since you first got here."

Harry nodded, "Yeah well, I think that's only because in Slytherin we stick together. We aren't really allowed to not like each other."

"Well I wish Gyffindor was like that. Everyone seems like they already know everyone and have separated into groups. They don't ever let up on the teasing either. It won't be long before someone comes in here and starts up again."

A light went off in Harry's head, "I think I know somewhere we can go and no one will bother you."

Harry went back to his table and stuffed his books back into his backpack. He glanced up and saw Hermione was doing the same.

"Come on, let's go," Harry called to her as he headed out the door. Pulling the girl with him through the corridors.

Once they got to the spot he had been thinking of, Harry was satisfied as he watched Hermione poke around the room. Although it wasn't really a room, but more of a nook. It was located in the dungeons way past the Slytherin common room. He had found it the when he had gotten a little lost. There were two large puffy chairs with a small table in the middle. The best part about it was that it was completely secluded from the rest of the castle.

"Wow Harry, this is amazing!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah I know and no one would bother you all the way down here."

Hermione smiled, "This is perfect."

Harry agreed and jumped onto one of the chairs. He watched Hermione sit down and pull out one of her textbooks. Harry grinned as he pulled out his own story and began to read.

It wasn't until hours later when his stomach began to growl that Harry looked up from his book. He chuckled when he saw Hermione, fast asleep over her work.

He glanced down at his watch before he shook his friend awake.

"Hermione! Come on if we don't hurry we will miss dinner."

She opened her eyes before really waking up and jumping from her chair.

"We missed lunch?" She asked while collecting her things and putting them back in her bag.

"Yeah and I'm starving so lets go," Harry laughed as he put his own things back into his bag.

They hurried through the halls and were almost to the Slytherin common room when Harry saw a dark figure approaching them. Going closer, he was relieved to see that it was Snape.

"Mr. Potter," the man called, "where have you been all day?"

Harry gulped and stepped back at the man's tone. It dawned on him then that the professor should be at dinner, not roaming the dungeons.

"We got caught up in reading, sir" Hermione said, after she realized that Harry wasn't going to answer.

"You were just released from the infirmary, Mr. Potter," Snape drawled. "You had been attacked and then you go an disappear for an entire day without a word to anyone? Besides that you missed a meal and you know how important it is for you not to miss any meals."

Harry could feel his face warming at Snape's words. He couldn't believe that the professor was saying that stuff about missing meals in front of Hermione.

"Miss Granger I trust you can find your way to the Great Hall"

"Yes, sir," Hermione replied, glancing over at Harry before she hurried on her way.

"Come with me," Snape said before turning and beckoning Harry to follow.