"I'm not replacing you," Harry told her quietly as Dean and Neville hurried out to shower and brush their teeth, leaving Harry alone with his pets. "I still love you Hedwig." Hedwig had gotten him through the lonely summer without his friends. She'd been trapped in his room just like he had with all those bars on the windows and the four locks on the outside of his door. Together they'd eeked out an existence and ate whatever cold soup or scraps aunt Petunia had pushed in through the cat flap. Hedwig was the only one there for him to talk to, and he'd had many lengthy conversations with her, her eyes always watching him as if she understood but couldn't respond like he might have wanted.

Hedwig finally pulled her face out of her feathers and stared at him, and Harry felt like she would have told him in that moment that she loved him too.

"You're it Hedwig," Harry said. "You're all I've got. There's no guarantee I get to go back to the Burrow at the end of the school year. I'm sorry if I made you feel like I forgot about you. I didn't. I wouldn't." She blinked at him, hooted softly, and allowed him to pet her feathers for several moments without nipping at his hand. Ron came back in to get a book he'd forgotten and gave Hedwig a wary look before giving the same look to the still sleeping protector on Harry's bed.

"Maybe Hedwig would be happier in the Owlery," Ron said, trying to be helpful. "Not sure why she even came in here last night at all. She's usually up there isn't she?"

"Hedwig can stay whenever she wants," Harry said, looking into Hedwig's eyes. Why had she come up last night though? Harry looked around and spied a scroll on the floor half under his nightstand. She must have brought him a letter, but it lay forgotten as she and his little monster had fought and tore his and Ron's portion of the dorm room apart.

"What's that?" Ron asked, stuffing his homework and forgotten book into his bag.

"Looks like it's from Snape," Harry said.

Ron held out his hand for the parchment and when Harry handed it over, read out loud so Harry wouldn't struggle with it, "Your detention is rescheduled for this evening at seven. Bring your protector."

"Wonderful," Harry muttered, and then said, "Thanks," to his friend for reading the letter to him.

"Why'd it get cancelled last night anyway?"

"No idea," Harry said. "It sounded like something was going on in his office. Maybe he was rearranging furniture or something."

Classes went by in a rush since Defense was cancelled for the day since all of the other teachers were busy, and Harry and his friends spent their free period tossing a beat up Quaffle that belonged to the school around on the front lawns. Some of the Slytherins from their class had followed them out and Harry was surprised when Pansy huffed and stalked over to them to tell him off for throwing it wrong.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. "Cradle it when you catch it and hurl it over your head for distance with a wrist flick at the end."

"Erm-" Harry said as she took the Quaffle from him and threw it a great distance to Ron. Harry had never learned to throw a Quaffle at practices as he'd spent all his time practicing Seeker techniques.

"Thank you is what you say when someone helps you," Pansy said, clearly waiting for Ron to throw the ball back to her. He did, though he shrugged at Harry after he had done so. The Slytherins never wanted to spend time with them. Pansy threw it to Hermione, who quietly caught it and then tossed it to Harry. Harry dropped it and Pansy took it from his hands again after he picked it up.

"Cradle it Potter. Like this." She threw it up in the air and then when she caught it she pulled her arms back to cradle it like one would a baby. "Cushion the blow and use both hands. Catch it in your arm and use your other hand to keep it there."

She stared at him as if waiting for something, and Harry said, "Thank you."

Satisfied, she tossed the ball the few feet to Harry and he cradled it, and then hurled it to Ron. The throw still left something to be desired but she didn't criticize it as Harry had at least done as she'd told him to.

Harry and Ron looked to the group of Slytherins, who included Crabbe and Millicent, to see what they thought of Pansy playing with three Gryffindors, but they didn't seem to mind and stayed where they were sitting on the grass and enjoying the sunshine. The group played quietly for the next twenty minutes, no one saying a word, except when Pansy finally corrected Hermione's throw, and then they packed up their belongings to go to Charms, the Slytherin's headed in to go to Transfiguration.

"You're welcome," Pansy said, not angry but clearly waiting for something.

"Thank you," Harry said, and it was echoed by Hermione.

When they separated Ron said quietly, "That was strange."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"They're Slytherins. They don't help people, and they don't hang out with us."

"Other houses do things together," Hermione said. She had a friend in Ravenclaw she sometimes spent weekends with in the library and was friendly with a younger boy in Hufflepuff whom she sometimes helped with Astronomy assignments.

"Yeah but- they're not like other people," Ron said.

"Maybe they want to be friends but Draco's always such a jerk they don't get a chance," Harry commented. Ron and Hermione both looked over at him as they went up the stairs to the first floor.

"That's a very insightful thought Harry," Hermione said, surprised. Ron didn't comment, but Harry didn't have much time to think on the strange interaction with the small group of Slytherins as his thoughts were consumed by classes and the impending detention that evening.

* * *

Anxiety filled Harry now as it did every time he had to enter the dungeons, and he hurried down the corridor, not daring to release his breath until he was inside the Potion Master's office. The man looked him up and down as if to be certain he hadn't been harmed, noted the look of relief on his face, and chose not to comment on it.

"Detention was cancelled last night because I was dealing with the flies."

"The- flies?" Harry asked.

"They were indeed part of the Tulpa. You said your protector ate one and then was thrown through the air at a suit of armor?"

"Yes sir. and then a gigantic wing was left on the floor next to its mouth." Harry shuddered internally and thought to himself again, ‘disgusting.'

The Tulpa appears to be able to send part of itself out as flies and perhaps other small creatures. Harry shuddered visibly this time. "I gathered as many of the flies as I could in a jar, and the wing left from the one your protector ate, and stored them in my office to examine later. When I returned after dinner for your detention, they had broken through the glass, grown larger than a Snitch and were attacking my person."

Harry's eyes were wide, and when he glanced up and saw the look on Harry's face Snape snorted.

"I am fine, thank you for your concern," Snape said sarcastically.

"They're gone now sir," Harry practically squeaked, looking around the office that had now been restored as if expecting to see fly remnants on the walls and floor.

"They have been dispatched."

Harry let out a sigh. He'd really been hoping for a quiet year this time around. Sure, it had been exciting trying to figure out the mystery of the three headed dog and the trap door and then all the traps and puzzles the teacher's had set, but Harry had no desire to go through another ordeal like the one with Quirrell and Voldemort. He just wanted to survive classes and perhaps find out what that group of Slytherins earlier in the day had really wanted.

"Now to business," Snape said, growing serious. Harry's eyes focused and met Snape's from the other side of the man's desk. "I want to know the details of how you managed to get through your first year not being able to read."

"I can read some," Harry said defensively, but he deflated a little as Snape's knowing look. "Ok, Ron reads things to me like my mail, and Hermione reads chapters of our books out loud to us so we can get the information we need to study and do our homework."

"And it did not occur to you to attempt to learn to read?"

"Hermione's been helping some, but she's busy a lot with homework. Ron wrote all the letters of the alphabet out for me, but it's hard to read his cursive. He tries to help me sound words out in class, but he doesn't always get a chance."

"I'm talking about seeking the help of a teacher Potter," but the boy gave Severus such a look, a look that clearly said, ‘why would I want to do that?' that Severus sighed.

"Did your previous teachers not attempt to help you?"

"They- I was in trouble a lot," Harry said, waiting for the man to go off on another tirade against him being a trouble maker, but he didn't.

"Explain."

"I had class with my cousin," Harry said. It was a small town and a small school with only one classroom per grade level, so even if Harry had known to ask, there was no possibility of him switching to a class without Dudley. When Snape didn't respond, Harry looked up and realized he was waiting for more information. "We don't get along. He'd do things in class and blame it on me and get me sent to the hall, or he'd tell the teacher I was cheating when I wasn't and I'd get sent to the office."

"So you did not spend enough time in class to learn anything," Severus said.

"No sir."

"And your family? Why did you not ask them for help?"

Harry shrugged and didn't respond, instead choosing to look down at his hands. His protector was lying across the top of his feet snoozing silently. He supposed that would have to be enough comfort for now.

"You will not make it through school without knowing how to read Potter," Snape said, and Harry nodded. He knew that. "As your courses become harder, more and more reading will be assigned, and your friends will not be able to help you keep up with it. In later years some independent study of subjects that interest you is encouraged and required for advanced projects in many of your classes, which means you will need to read the material yourself."

"Yes sir."

"If you will put in the effort to learn, then I will teach you."

"Sir?" Harry asked. He looked up and his little monster stirred but didn't make a sound.

"Do you agree to these terms Potter?"

"Erm-" he didn't see that he had much of a choice. "Yes." Then, quite unexpectedly Pansy's voice chimed in the back of his head from earlier in the day snapping at him to say thank you when help was being given. "Thank you," Harry said, and the surprised look on Snape's face amused and pleased Harry at the same time.

Snape didn't seem to know what to say to that, so he didn't. Instead he pulled a desk drawer open and pulled out a children's book that looked far too young for Harry or any of the other students there. It had pictures of a bear and a fox and the words were large and bold.

Snape slid the book across the desk and opened it to the first page. There was a capital letter A, a lower case A, and a sentence where most of the words were small and started with the letter A.

"You will read aloud and I will correct you if you need correcting. I need to see what level you are at to know where to start teaching you."

"Yes sir." Harry stared down at the page. "A," he said, and then he repeated it for the little A. "A."

The sentence looked a lot harder. "An a-app-leee ro-ll-s ale - all-on-g a road."

Harry pulled back as Snape's hand appeared from across the desk and pointed to the first word in the sentence. Harry flinched hard thinking he was going to be struck, but Snape simply stared at him and waited for him to look back at the page. Snape began to read, pointing at the words as he went. "An apple rolls along a road." He moved his finger back to the first word of the sentence again and said, "Look at each word I point at and read it as I have just done."

"An - apple - rolls - along - a - road," Harry said.

Snape described to him the two sounds the letter A makes and had Harry repeat it, and then told him when to use a capital A when writing and when to use a lowercase A. It was ten full minutes before they moved onto the next page, which had B. They were only to letter E before it was time for Harry's ‘detention' to be over, and Snape was assigning him homework. Harry was surprised that the man was handing his charmed quill back to him.

"You are to speak a list of ten words each for the letters A through D and after the quill writes them down you are to read them to yourself. Return here in two nights at seven for the next lesson and bring the words you've been working on with you."

"Yes sir."

Harry stood, his protector in his arms and before he went into the hallway said, "Thank you sir," and disappeared. Snape only stared after him. How had several years worth of teachers and his family not helped him learn the basic skill of reading? Severus didn't want the task of teaching the Brat-Who-Lived to read, but it was his duty as a teacher to do so once the deficiency had been identified. Could the boy's cousin read? He thought to ask him the next time he saw him. A fly flew in through Severus' open office door however and he cursed softly, pulling out his wand, ready for another evening fight with the Tulpa, who had seemed to make him his permanent target.