"I wanted to talk to you, Potter, for a number of reasons," Snape smiled at him, but the smile looked plastic. Fake. Tom shrugged, leaning back a bit.

"All right, what, sir?" he asked, nominally polite, save for the sneer underlying every word. Snape's eyes sparked in anger, but he said nothing about Tom's tone.

"I wanted to apologise actually," Professor Snape said. "I behaved abominably over winter break. I should not have shouted at you, or grabbed you the way I did. I was concerned for your safety while you were missing and reacted badly when I saw you were safe. I also should not have attempted Legilimency on you without your permission."

"Legilimency?" Tom asked curiously, more than aware of what it was, but wondering how precisely their Head of House was going to explain it.

"Eat," Snape pointed at their plate, now filled with all of Harry's favourite foods, and Tom reluctantly started on a piece of toast.

"Legilimency is essentially the art of mind reading," Snape continued, after a long, slurping gulp of tea. "A Legilimens is someone who is accomplished in this. There are ways to block a Legilimens from reading your mind-primarily Occlumency, which you have shown natural talent for. It is a difficult skill to learn, and most never do."

"What d'you mean a natural talent?" Tom asked, swallowing his mouthful of scrambled eggs in haste.

"In the Hospital Wing, you were rather adept at throwing me out of your mind," Snape explained with a slight smirk. "It's a good skill to have. Perhaps necessary for you, to be perfectly frank."

"Oh," Tom said, secretly pleased at the Potions professor's reaction. I should hope I was rather adept, he thought.

Someone's ego has puffed up to the size of a house, Jay said irritably inside. Now shut up and listen to the arse.

"-the hearing is also coming up next week," he heard Snape finish, and his stomach instantly dropped. Oh.

"Can we talk about that another time, sir?" Tom interrupted. He felt rather queasy. Snape peered at his face, then nodded slowly.

"Of course," Snape said. "Also-as to what occurred in the Hospital Wing-Madam Pomfrey and myself have been working together, in hopes of finding a proper solution to removing you from the Dursleys' care."

"...What?" Tom's mouth dropped open.

"You didn't think we would let you stay in the care of abusive people, did you?" Snape arched one eyebrow, and Tom sagged in his chair.

"The Headmaster certainly would, sir," he murmured bitterly, reflections of his old 'host's' experiences echoing through eyes that had gone nearly black.

"Leave the Headmaster to I, Potter," Snape sneered. "Now-I apologise if I seem to be rushing you, but breakfast is nearly over, and I would not like you to be late. So if you could hurry...?"

"I'm done, sir," Tom swallowed the last bit of toast quickly.

"Good, Potter," Snape almost smiled. "I shall speak with you later."

And within a few minutes, Tom was neatly out the door, book-bag slung over one shoulder and stomach still sloshing rather unpleasantly with the remnants of breakfast.

The 'greasy git' of the dungeons himself had apologised and offered his help. Would wonders never cease. He was sure that Hermione would babble inanities about professors and helping and all that rot.

It was too bad no one in their system believed a fucking word of it.

Preoccupied with his thoughts, Tom slipped back inside and a few minutes later, Echo popped out. He knew they had Charms next, and he directed his steps accordingly. Charms first, Transfiguration second, then a break period. He liked break periods. He didn't have to try to fake facial expressions as much then. Unless some of their friends were around. He didn't mind their friends, he supposed, but it was hard to be around them. All of their emotions felt almost painful, rubbing and splattering against him. He would be just as well off if that didn't happen at all.

But Harry and Jay and Tom and Raven liked having friends, and he couldn't go against that. So when Blaise and Theo met them at the door to the Charms classroom, he forced a smile on his face (which felt wholly unnatural), and sat there and read the chapter and took notes-his handwriting was much more neat and cramped than Harry's was. And he endured Blaise's suspicious looks and Theo's guileless eyes, and when that was over, he did the same in the next class, and when rest period came, he hid in the back of the library and heaved a small sigh of relief.

It was hard pretending, and he didn't like it at all.

You are fucking creepy, you know that? Jay spoke up inside, half-spooked, half-admiring. Echo just shook his head. He wasn't creepy. At least, he didn't think he was.

No, you are, Jay insisted, before Blue knocked him over the head with a pillow and told him to knock it off.

He can't help being different! Blue said fiercely, and Jay had looked abashed for once.

Echo understood almost none of this.

Five minutes later, Professor Quirrell walked straight past them-they were more than half-hidden in a secluded corner-and even Echo noticed that the stuttering, nervous man looked completely different than usual.

"Where is it," Quirrell hissed to himself, no trace of his stammer in his voice, and from Echo's shadowed position, he saw the man pull out a singular, dusty book.

Magical Beasts and How to Tame Them.