Field of Broken Dreams by JAWorley
Summary: After getting sixteen year old Harry out of jail over the summer, Severus Snape must deal with a number of things, including: trying to maintain a relationship with his future wife, building a relationship with his future step-son, and trying to figure out the ever-changing enigma that is Harry Potter.
Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Dudley, Dumbledore, Hermione, McGonagall, Molly, Original Character, Other, Petunia, Ron
Snape Flavour: Snape is Angry, Canon Snape, Snape Comforts, Snape is Controlling, Snape is Desperate, Snape is Kind, Snape is Loving, Snape is Stern
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Canon, Drama, Family, Fantasy, General, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Adoption, Hospitalization, Incognito!Harry, Injured!Harry, Injured!Snape, Runaway, Sibling Addition, Snape-meets-Dursleys
Takes Place: 6th summer, 6th Year, 7th summer
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Neglect, Physical Punishment Non-Spanking, Profanity, Romance/Het, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 20 Completed: No Word count: 74912 Read: 190199 Published: 06 Jul 2012 Updated: 30 Jun 2021
Duels, Occlumency and the Games We Play by JAWorley
Author's Notes:
In which the Slytherins make themselves known...
Hermione broke Ron's arm at the next Swordmaster's Club. If people were surprised when the news passed around the school the next morning, it was nothing to the look of shock on Ron's face when it happened. He'd broken bones before wrestling with his brothers and playing Quidditch, but when Hermione brought the blunt wooden blade down against his arm with such a force that his bone snapped, he did little more than grimace because he was too busy staring at her in awe.

"I'm so sorry Ron," she'd said, rushing to his side, but the instructor came over as well and said, "Never be sorry for a superior performance Miss Granger, as your opponent will not be."

The fact that Jo had had to treat Ron's broken arm, and Madam Pomfrey had needed to treat a severely sprained ankle and several large contusions after the second meeting did nothing to put Jo in favor of Sam joining the club late like he'd been begging her to allow. It also didn't endear her any to the idea of Sam joining the duelling club which Dumbledore had recently approached Harry about starting up again, though she hadn't banned him from joining yet.

"There aren't usually injuries at the DA," Harry said. "We pad the floors and walls so when people duel or fall down they're cushioned."

"It still sounds unnecessarily dangerous."

Severus wasn't there to help Harry and Sam with this discussion as he was supervising detention. The club started the following evening and Sam was desperate not to be left out of yet another activity his friends were allowed to take part in.

"If the dementors come after us, could you keep me and Sam safe?" Harry asked. He was so sincere in his question to her that at first Jo didn't associate it with their discussion about the DA.

"They can come right through normal shields," she said. "You have to cast a patronus to keep them away. It's very advanced magic."

"But, if they come, can you keep us safe? You won't let them get to us?"

"I will always protect you Harry," she said.

"And what if you're not there?"

"I'll be there."

"When a dementor attacked me and my cousin one summer, there was no one there to save us. I had to cast a patronus to keep it away. It tried to kiss my cousin, and he's a Muggle."

She looked shocked and put her hand up to her mouth.

"And in third year there were dementors surrounding the school. They kept coming on the grounds and making people pass out. That's why Remus taught me how to cast one, because they affect me worse than others. And that's why I taught people in the DA last year. 30 students can cast one now. We're ready if the dementors come back."

"Severus told me about the club but I didn't realize you were teaching such advanced magic."

"Not everything the DA learns is advanced. A lot of it is practical shields and things like Expelliarmus. Some of the things could be dangerous, but things like learning to cast a Patronus aren't. Professor McGonagall's going to supervise it this year. Last year since it was an illegal club we didn't have adult supervision, and no one got hurt."

"What kinds of things do you think you'll teach this year?" Jo asked, sitting down in Severus' favorite chair by the fire as Harry sat down on the couch. Sam was listening to the conversation with interest and looking hopeful his mother would let him join the club.

"I don't know," Harry said. "Ron and Hermione lead it with me. We all look up shields and spells we want to teach others. We learn it on our own and then come to the DA and teach it to everyone. Sometimes we ask what others want to learn or need help with and make a list. We try to make sure everyone has every spell down so they can duel and protect themselves if they need to."

"Please mum?" Sam asked. "It'll be so much fun. Some of the other Ravenclaw's are joining this year too."

Harry's eyes wandered to Sam's face. The DA was fun, but it was so much more important than that. Harry wanted his friends to be able to defend themselves, and he wanted to learn as much as he could to keep himself safe. The war wasn't real for Sam yet, and he wondered if it ever would be. He hoped it would never be.

In the end Jo agreed to let Sam join, and promised Harry not to judge the club too harshly if there was an occasional injury, especially since McGonagall was supervising and would be approving all spells they'd be learning beforehand. Harry and Hermione had talked to her that morning and Harry was happy to find out she had a list of spells she and the Headmaster had come up with that they wanted everyone in the club to learn as well.

"I'm glad you were able to convince her," Sam said after they left the dungeons. "I barely get to see you as it is. With you doing another club it'll be even less time we get to hang out. You still owe me a game of Lacrosse. We've been out every Saturday morning playing. Even Ron came out last Saturday."

"He did?" Harry asked. They'd had Quidditch practice Saturday afternoon, and he'd spent the morning studying with Ginny and doing homework before heading out to practice the week before.

"He wasn't sure about it at first since it's on the ground, but he got the hang of it really quick, especially the part about ramming into others to score a goal." He moved his shoulder back as if it still hurt from wherever Ron had tackled him the previous week.

"So you're going out again tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"Nine am. We only play for an hour."

"I guess I could come out," Harry said. Quidditch practice was at eleven, and the DA wasn't until after dinner. He hadn't planned on getting any studying done Saturday anyway with everything else he had to do. He was going to stay up late and do it all before going to bed and then catch up on the rest Sunday.

"Excellent," Sam said. "Bring your gear. We'll find extras for Ron to play with. He played with yours last week."

"He did?" Harry asked. Ron must have taken his gear from their shared wardrobe.

"He said you wouldn't mind."

"I don't," Harry said. He and Ron shared so much anyway, sometimes he forgot that the coat he always borrowed was Ron's, and occasionally their school books and quills and other school things got mixed up.

* * *

Despite having stayed up until after eleven doing a challenging essay, Harry woke feeling well rested on Saturday morning. He put his Quidditch robes into his bag along with his lacrosse goggles and gloves, and then grabbed both his broom and his lacrosse stick and went to the Great Hall for breakfast. "What's all that for?" Ginny asked when he sat down next to her at Gryffindor table.

"I'm going to play lacrosse with Sam and Ron before practice."

"Oh yeah, Ron came back bruised last weekend and covered in dirt. He had to shower before practice just so he could get muddy again."

"You could come," Harry said.

"Maybe next weekend. I have plans with Luna this morning before practice."

She surprised Harry by leaning in and giving him a kiss on the cheek when she was done with her eggs and toast, and then left to meet Luna at the Ravenclaw table. A moment later Sam and his friends came over with their gear to see if Harry was ready to go out. Ron was already with them, and Harry was surprised he hadn't noticed that Ron had eaten at Ravenclaw table with them that morning.

"Ready mate?" Ron asked. Harry stood up with his bag and gear and followed them out. They went out to a wide flat expanse of lawn between the castle and the pitch and got their gear on. Thomas did a spell that looked to Harry like a shield but conjured a translucent blue net, and then conjured a second one at the other end of their makeshift play area.

Just as the nets were put up, several fifth, sixth and seventh year Hufflepuffs Harry didn't know well came out with their gear on, and Sam explained they were Muggleborn and had grown up playing lacrosse in school before coming to Hogwarts. They had enough for five people per team, and Harry ended up playing Defender for their goal. Ron liked playing Keeper well enough on a Quidditch team, but liked being an Attacker when playing Lacrosse as he could score goals and move around the field.

Harry was not a good Defender as it turned out, and at the end of their hour game had let every ball past him. He was dirty from throwing himself in front of the ball, and tired. Ron was amped up and ready to head to Quidditch practice straight away, though Harry thought he'd like a break.

As Harry and Ron headed to the Pitch to change into their Quidditch gear, Sam and his friends stayed behind to practice and talk.

"I don't know how you do it," Harry told Ron as they made the changing rooms. "Defending is hard, and you have to do it up in the air and stay on your broom."

Ron shrugged. "It felt hard at first, but I picked it up all right. I wouldn't mind trying for Chaser if one of the positions came open."

Harry laughed. "I think I'll be happy to just stick with Seeker thank you very much."

"Are you going to go out again with us next Saturday?"

"If I have time... and if I can play something other than Defender."

Ron laughed and said, "Whatever team you end up on next time, I don't think they'll let you play Defender."

Quidditch practice was equally as gruelling, or perhaps it only felt like it because Harry was already tired from playing Lacrosse. His shoulders and legs ached and his back grew stiff sitting on the broom overseeing practice. He was tempted not to practice himself at all, but felt it would be unfair to the team, so he spent half an hour dodging bludgers and another twenty minutes practicing a new Seeker maneuver he'd read about over the summer.

"You look ready for a nap," Ginny told him after they'd returned to the common room and showered and changed.

"No naps," Hermione said, hurrying up to them before Harry could answer. "Professor McGonagall wants us to meet her in her office for lunch. She wants to go over a few things before the meeting tonight."

Harry sighed and gave Ginny a warm smile. He blushed when she kissed his cheek for a second time that day and headed to the Great Hall for lunch without him.

"Ron's going to meet us there," Hermione told him, and they left the common room and headed towards McGonagall's office.

Harry was happy to let Hermione do most of the talking during their lunch meeting with McGonagall. They compared the list of spells McGonagall had for them with the list of things they wanted to teach, and then the list of spells students from the previous year had already learned.

"If you're not opposed to the idea," McGonagall said as they ended their meeting, "I can teach newcomers the spells from last year so you can move on to new spells with the core group."

"That would be great," Harry said.

"The Headmaster has expressed an interest in attending some of the meetings to teach some of the spells on the list himself, but not for the first few weeks."

They agreed and after they left, Ron voiced the excitement Harry felt at having Dumbledore teach them. "I always wondered what it would be like to have Dumbledore teach a class. I bet he knows loads of things we can use."

Harry was remembering the way the Headmaster handled himself against Voldemort in the atrium of the Ministry at the end of the previous year. It was less casting of spells, and more molding of magic to do what he needed it to do to protect himself and Harry. Voldemort threw massive fireballs, so Dumbledore contained them in water. Voldemort threw chunks of stone with magic, and Dumbledore made them disintegrate. Harry wanted to be able to protect himself like that.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the common room talking and playing games with his friends. He was glad to have a few hours to just spend time relaxing and thought it might be worth it to put all homework aside on Saturdays from then on. He'd relish having less things to do this year, but knew he couldn't drop the Swordmaster's club or the DA, and he didn't want to drop Quidditch. So long as nothing else got added to his plate he might make it through the year.

As dinner finished up that evening, Harry was once again wishing for a nap to recuperate from the physical activities he'd done that day, but knew he'd have to settle for going to bed as soon as the DA was finished instead. He and his friends were just leaving the Great Hall to head to the Room of Requirement to set it up when Severus stopped Harry and motioned him to the side.

"I won't keep you," he said. "After the DA I would appreciate it if you would come by the dungeons. We need to begin Occlumency lessons."

Harry's heart sank for a moment, realizing he wasn't going to get to go to bed early that night, but then he steeled himself to make it through the rest of the evening and nodded. Occlumency was something he couldn't skip out on. He hadn't felt Voldemort in his head recently, but that didn't mean he wasn't there or wouldn't decide to take advantage of him again in the near future.

"What was that about?" Ron asked as they headed up to the Room of Requirement a moment later.

"Occlumency," Harry said.

"Ugh," Ron groaned. "Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want me to lead the meeting tonight?"

"No. I'll be ok. Just hope I don't fall asleep later."

Ron snorted. "He'd ground you to dust if you fell asleep while he was teaching. We'd be reading about your demise in the Prophet tomorrow. Maybe we can convince the elves to give you some coffee."

"He can't," Hermione said knowledgebly. "The caffeine will make it harder for him to learn it. Caffeine is good for keeping people out once you know how, but until then it will only hinder the process." Harry trusted her on the topic. When he'd been forced to learn it last year she'd read everything she could find to help him, but he'd still been rubbish at it.

There were eleven new people at the DA's first meeting of the year that night. McGongall explained to the group that she would be teaching newcomers until they were caught up on the previous year's spells, and made it clear that Harry was still in charge of the club despite her presence there. Harry split the group into newcomers who went with McGonagall to one side of the large training room, and the core group from the previous year who went to the other side to discuss a new shield and curse combination they would be learning that night.

Ron threw up the curse shield and Hermione cast against it, carefully dodging the curse that reflected off the shield back at her when she sent her simple stunning spell at it. Whatever curse you wove into the shield would reflect back at those who cast against it. Today they were practicing weaving in a Jelly Legs Jinx instead of something harmful.

They worked from six to eight, and Harry was pleased with the core group's progress by the time they were done. He checked in with the newcomers and found McGonagall had moved quickly through several spells from the previous year. More than half of the newcomers had learned three new spells, and the others who were mostly younger students had picked up one or two.

Ron and Hermione didn't wait for Harry knowing he had to go to Occlumency. Instead Harry left with Sam and they headed towards Ravenclaw tower.

"I'll be caught up in no time," Sam said. "It'd be helpful if you tutored me before the next meeting though. Then I can join the other group."

"I wish I had time," Harry said. "I can give you the list of spells from last year though. Maybe Severus and your mum can get you through the list."

"Maybe. Where are you headed now?"

Harry gave Sam a grimmace and said, "I'd like to be headed to bed, but your dad said I had to go to the dungeons for tutoring. Occlumency," he clarified at Sam's raised brows.

"Ah."

"I'll get you the list tomorrow," Harry told him, "or you can get it from Hermione." He waved at Sam and they parted ways as Harry descended through the castle.

It was eight thirty when he knocked on the door to Severus' quarters. Jo opened the door and didn't look surprised to see him.

"How did your club go?" she asked, letting him in.

"Fine." He described what they'd learned, and then when Severus came in with a cup of coffee for himself and a cup of water for Harry, Harry said to him, "Sam may want help learning last year's spells. He wants to get out of McGonagall's group and into the core group, but he can't until he has last year's spells down."

"I will ask if he wants help."

Severus pulled one of the comfortable chairs over so it faced the other one and sat down in it, motioning for Harry to have a seat across from him. This was so different from the last time Harry had learned Occlumency, sitting in Snape's sparse office on a hard wooden chair and getting yelled at... getting things thrown at him.

"It will not be as it was last time," Severus reassured him, and Harry looked up, surprised.

"Were you already in my mind?"

"The grimmace was written across your face."

"Sorry."

"Do not be."

Harry noted that Jo was pretending to read a book as she listened from the couch, and tried to ignore her.

"Have you been practicing clearing your mind at all since we last met for Occlumency?"

"No," Harry said, eyes coming up to meet Severus'. Severus didn't yell or sigh though.

"You must begin practicing each night before bed. Spend ten minutes clearing everything away from your mind. When you practice each day it will become second nature to you, like breathing. You will be able to do it without having to try or even think about it. The moment your mind feels a breach by Voldemort or anyone else, it will clear and you will be able to hold on to your secrets."

"Hey!" Harry sat up suddenly, his shout startling Jo. Snape had brushed against his mind. "You didn't even warn me!"

"But you felt the breach of your mind," Severus said calmly.

"Yeah-" Harry tried to calm himself. It was the first time he'd felt someone else in his mind since Voldemort had possessed him at the Ministry. Actually, he was certain it felt more powerful than it had before when they were having lessons, or perhaps Harry was just more alert to what it felt like and opposed to having someone else in his mind. "Were you being more... forceful or something? Than in lessons before?"

"I was not. It was... gentler than before."

"But it felt different. I knew you were right there. It felt like something was wrong... like alarm bells."

"I was not being subtle. It is possible however after your experience at the Ministry that you are hyper aware of your own mind and what and whom do not belong there. That will make learning Occlumency easier as you will not have to learn to sense when your mind is being entered or tampered with."

Harry sighed and nodded. "When he was- when he possessed me, I had no control. He was talking through my mouth... making me say things to Dumbledore I had no control over. I was able to talk to Voldemort in my mind because he was there and had control of it, but that was it."

"The Headmaster said you forced him out in the end."

"Not really. I just pissed him off."

"How?"

"I said I pitied him and thought about how he would never have friends. Then I thought about all the good moments I'd had with my friends that Voldemort would never get to experience because nobody likes him. I mighta said he was ugly... I don't know."

"You did not force him out then. He left voluntarily. You will still need to learn Occlumency so you can force him from your mind. You may not be able to goad him into leaving your mind and body the next time."

Severus spent half an hour talking Harry through one of the techniques to force someone from the mind, and then entered Harry's mind so Harry could practice. After a few minutes Severus withdrew and spent more time instructing Harry on what to try next. They spent another half hour practicing, at which point Severus became aware that Harry had fallen asleep, and pulled his mind away again. He looked over and found Jo still watching from the sofa, book forgotten on her lap.

"Is he still concentrating?" she asked.

"He fell asleep."

"He had a long day. I wish this could have waited until another night."

"As do I, however we will have to practice several nights a week, and needed to begin right away. The sooner he can master this, the safer we will all be, and the sooner the lessons can be ended and he can have the time to do as he wishes."

Jo rose and covered Harry with a blanket from the sofa and then asked Severus quietly, "Voldemort really possessed him?"

"Yes. Albus said it was- disturbing. A normal legilimens cannot posess another's mind or body. Voldemort has researched old magic however, and has mastered several dark magics not well known today. The Headmaster believes he was only able to possess him because of their connection."

"What connection?"

Severus tapped the center of his own forehead to indicate Harry's scar and said, "His scar is cursed. I cannot go into the details. You will have to ask the Headmaster if you want to know, and he may not tell you."

"Will Harry be able to learn?"

"He is already ahead of where he was last year. Once he learns the basic concept his skills will snowball and he will become proficient at it quickly."

"Should we move him to the guest room?" Jo asked.

"Let him sleep for a few more minutes. Then I will walk him to Gryffindor."

They watched Harry for a moment as he slept in the chair, slumped over and looking as though he were still awake and concentrating on trying to keep his Potion's Master out of his mind.

* * *

Harry stretched, muscles sore from Lacrosse and Quidditch the day before. At least he felt like he'd had a good night's rest. He'd been so tired the night before he didn't even remember going to bed.

Someone mumbled from beside him and Harry opened his eyes and found himself face to face with Sam. What was Sam doing in Gryffindor?

"Sam?"

Sam opened his eyes, frowned for a moment, and then asked, "What are you doing in Ravenclaw?"

Harry let his eyes move past Sam's face and to the brightly lit room. This wasn't Gryffindor and he didn't think it was Ravenclaw either. Suddenly there was giggling and laughing and Harry sat up to find himself on a stone floor surrounded by Hufflepuffs. There were girls and boys both. The boys were laughing heartily and the girls giggling like mad, pointing at them.

"Whoa!" Sam said, trying to pull the blanket back over him. Harry looked down and realized it wasn't a blanket covering them, but a large yellow and black Hufflepuff banner. He also realized in that moment that he didn't have a shirt on. He didn't have anything else on either. He pulled the banner up to cover his chest, back feeling cold as people continued to laugh at them.

"How the hell did we get down here?" Sam asked. Harry looked around and decided they must be in the Hufflepuff common room.

"The last thing I remember was being in tutoring," he told him. He hadn't even remembered going back to Gryffindor. He must have fallen asleep in Snape's quarters.

"I know I went to bed in Ravenclaw last night."

"What you doing in our common room boys?" one of the fifth year Prefects asked, laughing as he knelt down next to Sam. The boy tugged at the banner but Sam grabbed onto it with a death grip.

"Mind if we borrow this?" Sam asked, eyes pleading with the Prefect to let him have this one thing.

"Now if I let you borrow our banner," the boy said, "what will you give me in return?"

"What do you want?" Harry asked.

"Hufflepuffs are the best house in school," the boy said. "Repeat it."

"Hufflepuffs are the best house in school," Sam repeated, still gripping the banner tightly.

"I think everyone will know we think that when we walk through the castle starkers and covered in your house banner," Harry said. This caused another round of laughter.

"And you'll be repeating Hufflepuff's are the best house in school," said another boy, this time one of the boy's they'd played Laccrosse with the day before.

"You bet," Sam said, voice strained.

"Go on then, extol the virtues of our house through the castle," a seventh year said, and Harry and Sam struggled to stand up while remaining covered, which was impossible since there was a group of girls behind them giggling at their bare backsides.

"I expect this has something to do with what you did to the Slytherins," someone said as they made for the door out to the corridor, "seeing as how a group of them carried you in here this morning before sun up and stripped you starkers and left you for us to find." There was another round of laughter.

They made it to the corridor and were thankful to find it empty, but were dismayed to find that most of Hufflepuff house had decided to follow them out.

"Ok, ok," Sam said, putting on a smile as he held onto the banner with one hand and waved with the other, hoping they'd leave them alone.

They hurried as best as they could towards the Entrance Hall, but as soon as they came out into it, there was a large group of Slytherins waiting. They cheered them on and laughed heartily as Harry and Sam turned bright red and made for the stairs up to the rest of the castle.

"Extol our virtues," a Hufflepuff shouted, "or we'll have our banner back!"

"Hufflepuff is the greatest." Harry said in a monotone. A girl grabbed for the banner and Harry shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hufflepuff are the greatest!"

"We love Hufflepuff!" Sam shouted as they climbed the stairs, a dozen students still following them.

"This way," Harry said, but Sam pulled against the banner to go right when Harry was going to the corridor on the left.

"No, not Gryffindor!" Sam shouted. "Let's go to Ravenclaw instead!"

Harry wasn't in the mood to stand in the corridor and argue with people still laughing at them and pointing and catcalling, so he went to the right to head to Ravenclaw. "I hope you have clothes for me to borrow," Harry said.

"Of course."

They met several students on their way to Ravenclaw tower, and Professor Flitwick, who squeaked, "Oh my!" when they passed, but let them by without an explanation. Harry was glad it hadn't been McGonagall or one of the other female Professors.

At the entrance to Ravenclaw tower Sam had to come up with the appropriate answer to a riddle, but he gained their entrance quickly. Several students laughed and asked what was going on when they got into the Ravenclaw common room, but it wasn't as raucous as what they'd endured to this point.

"Hey Heywood! Where'd your clothes go?"

"Ask the Slytherins!" he said as they dashed towards a staircase Harry assumed would lead to the boy's dorms. "Didn't anyone see them sneaking in to steal me away in the night?"

The door to the common room opened again and a few Ravenclaws came in with one of the Hufflepuffs, who gave the banner a predatory look, and Harry shouted, "Hufflepuff's rock!" before Sam led him through a door and out of sight. Thankfully the sixth year boy's dorm was empty, and Sam dropped the banner and made a dash to his wardrobe, which he threw the door open to and stood behind out of sight. Harry waited patiently with the banner wrapped all the way around him now. Sam reappeared a minute later fully clothed and began tossing things at Harry to put on, including a pair of black sweatpants and a t-shirt and socks.

"You can't have my underwear," Sam said.

"Thanks, I don't want it."

Sam plopped onto his bed and put his head in his hand as Harry dressed. "They'll be after us about it for weeks," Sam said. "When we graduate they'll still be ribbing us after we get jobs."

Harry laughed, not feeling overly bitter about it now that he was fully clothed again. He was used to people scorning him or jeering at him over one thing or another throughout the year. At least this time it was over something innocent, and not people calling him names or saying he was a liar or a cheat for entering the tournament or saying Voldemort was back.

"Just act like you like all the attention," he said. "They'll stop and forget about it soon. Smile like it was all in good fun."

"I don't know about that."

They left Ravenclaw a few minutes later, and none of the other Ravenclaws gave Harry a hard time about being in their house. Once they were out in the corridor again they ran into a group of people waiting for them. Perhaps they'd thought Harry might come back out still wearing only the banner and wanted to follow him all the way to Gryffindor. Some seemed disappointed, though others were still teasing them and laughing. Harry held up his hands and said, "We made it! Because Hufflepuff is the best!" The few Hufflepuffs there laughed and cheered, and let Harry and Sam pass.

"I don't think I even want to go to breakfast," Sam said.

"You could go to the Dungeons and have breakfast there and explain to your mum why you want to skip breakfast with your friends."

"No thanks," Sam said, face turning red again, and Harry laughed.

The Entrance Hall was empty when they got back because everyone had moved into the Great Hall for breakfast. People were pointing and talking when they came in, and Harry ran to Hufflepuff table and climbed up on a bench. "Hufflepuff saved our lives!" he said. He turned to see if he could encourage Sam to come up with him, but Sam climbed up without having to be told to.

"We'll forever be grateful to Hufflepuff!" Sam said, and the table cheered. "Hufflepuff are the best ever!"

Harry bowed and climbed down in time to see Ron standing next to Gryffindor table and watching with a confused look on his face.

"Harry!" he said. "What're you doing?"

Harry turned to the group of Gryffindors seated nearest to him and asked loudly, "Why are Hufflepuff's the best?"

"Because their banner covered your bare arse all the way up through the castle," said Seamus with a laugh. "Saved our house from most dire embarrassment."

Harry sat down next to him and said, "Thank you." He let the others explain to Ron what they had seen and then told everyone about waking up in the Hufflepuff common room surrounded by giggling girls and about people trying to snatch the banner.

"Dirty Slytherins," Ron huffed, but before he could say more, Ginny came and sat next to Harry and said, "I heard you put on quite a show this morning."

"Yup, something like that."

"Only sorry I didn't get to see it."

"Ginny!" Ron said, turning red, and Ginny giggled.

Later Harry asked Severus if he had any idea what had happened to Harry after Occlumency tutoring in his quarters, and Snape insisted he had woken Harry and seen him back to Gryffindor tower, where Harry went inside and said he was going to bed. Harry and Sam always wondered however if Severus had had something to do with the Slytherin's payback, because it was so masterful and sneaky they couldn't have pulled it off without the help of a staff member.

To be continued...


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