Among The Gemini Trees by JAWorley
Past Featured StorySummary: COMPLETE. Harry and Hermione go to a prestigious summer school, where Snape is a teacher. Unfortunately for Harry, Snape has spoken to the other staff and is on his way to turning the whole school against Harry.
Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Dudley, Dumbledore, Hermione, McGonagall, Original Character, Other, Petunia, Ron, Vernon
Snape Flavour: Snape is Angry, Snape's a Bully, Canon Snape, Snape is Cruel, Snape is Kind, Snape is Loving, Snape is Mean, Snape is Stern
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Family, Fantasy, General, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Adoption, Hospitalization, Injured!Harry
Takes Place: 6th summer
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Neglect, Physical Punishment Non-Spanking, Romance/Het, Violence
Prompts: Another School, Other wizarding cultures
Challenges: Another School, Other wizarding cultures
Series: None
Chapters: 30 Completed: Yes Word count: 171578 Read: 311035 Published: 20 Jan 2014 Updated: 31 Jul 2020
When It Rains... by JAWorley
Author's Notes:
Here's what the outside of the cabins look like:


Another long descriptive chapter, but I promise that the chapters after this won't be quite so descriptive.

Harry wasn't quite sure what to think of the gift he'd found on his porch the next morning, if it was a gift at all. He was sure Draco had left the items there (really, who else would have green monogramed Slytherin notebooks and pens). Harry stared at the three lined spiral bound notebooks and the very nice silver ink pen that were now sitting on his desk. Draco's name wasn't anywhere on them, but they each had a Silver Slytherin crest on them. Maybe he'd taken Harry's use of the pink pen and notebook personally. Well, if he wanted to give Harry some of his supplies, then let him. It would save Harry the embarrassment of running out of ink or paper and also having to take the pink ones around during classes. He'd just use Hermione's supplies for his own personal note taking when he was alone in his room.

Harry took his ratty backpack and tried to spruce it up with his wand a bit. He hadn't thought to sew it up while at Privet Drive and hadn't brought a needle or thread with him. When he'd done all he thought he could do, he put one of the green notebooks into his bag along with Draco's pen and the list of class times and schedules that had appeared on his desk overnight while he'd been sleeping. He'd read as much as he could handle of the Occlumency book last night (about ten pages), the first page of the meditation book, 5 of the advanced Defensive Tactics book, and a few each of his other books. He would have read more, but it was well after 1 am when he finally fell asleep with the Root Defense book open on his chest.

Even though it was summer Harry had been dismayed to find out that it was very cold during the night, and surmised it must have had something to do with the wind coming off of the water. His thin blanket helped keep off the chill a little, but not much, and there wasn't any kind of heater. He'd have to see if he could find some kind of jar with a lid and ask Hermione for the spell she sometimes used to put fire in a jar.

At breakfast Harry spied Draco sitting with some of the Durmstrang boys at another table, and tried to catch his eye to see if he really had given him the supplies, but Draco ignored him throughout. Harry wanted to sit next to Hermione, but she was sitting with a group of girls from another school and chatting animatedly about the classes they'd be taking. Instead, he sat down at the end of one of the tables near the back, away from the staff who were up front. There were only three of them, and Harry wondered if staff had a separate room to eat in or if the missing teachers were already at their buildings preparing for the day.

"Hey Harry." Harry stared as Ernie sat down across from him.

"Hi Ernie," Harry acknowledged. "How was the bonfire?"

"Good. It's a bit cold on the beach at night though, and it's quite a trek down the cliff path to get there."

"Oh."

Harry filled his plate with food, but looked up again when Ernie cleared his throat.

"Do you know what they're saying about you?"

"The staff, or students?"

"Er, both. I haven't heard the staff say much but I guess some have."

"Let me think," Harry said, feeling sarcastic, "they're saying I'm a poor student who got a free pass at Hogwarts, who shouldn't be here, whose a trouble maker, who got Dumbledore to pay his school bill."

"Well- yeah actually."

"I didn't get invited to the bonfire," Harry said. "I was going to go anyway but I heard the professors talking. Snape has made up all sorts of things about me."

"I- didn't think Professors would do that."

"Make things up?"

Ernie nodded.

"Well Snape has. I paid my own way and nobody has ever given me a free pass to anything. I'm here because I want to learn."

"Why would he do that?"

Harry fixed Ernie with a serious look. "I know we haven't ever had Potions together, but he's always singled me out in class. He doesn't like me. I've been given more detentions by him than I can count, but hardly any given to me by other professors."

"He's never done anything like that to any of the Ravenclaws."

Harry shrugged. "You can believe what you want to, everybody always does. I've told you my side of things."

He scarfed down the rest of his breakfast and then hurried out into the chill morning air. He wanted to study some more before his first class and to get a better handle on his schedule. He'd tried to work it out last night but it was confusing. He supposed with this system, if he wasn't feeling up to going to a certain class in the morning, he could go later in the day. He sat down on one of the benches on the wrap around porch of the Dining Hall and looked at the list of classes he'd signed up for and times they were each available, and by the time the rest of the students were coming out from breakfast, he'd scribbled this schedule:

9:00 am Advanced Wandless Magic - August
10:00 am Advanced Defensive Tactics - Snape
11:00 am Healing and Healing Potions - Gan and Adeline
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm Root Defense - Gan
2:00 pm Occlumency - Snape
3:00 pm Muggle Defensive Tactics - Blazhe
4:00 pm Drawing - Blazhe
5:00 pm Meditation - Gan
5:30 pm Free Time
6:00 pm Dinner
6:45 pm Classic Muggle and Magical Literature - Iva and August

His stomach did a somersault when he counted the number of courses he was going to try to take and do homework for. His plan was to go to all of them for a couple of days and then drop any he just couldn't handle. He was certain that he'd end up dropping Occlumency and Advanced Defensive Tactics if Snape was going to be on his case, though he supposed if he could handle the man at Hogwarts, he could handle him here too.

As some students headed back to their cabins to get supplies, and others made their way across the grassy compound to class buildings, Harry crossed the grass to building four, a medium sized building with one room, and went inside. There were individual desks and chairs, and he sat down and took out his Magery book to review what he'd read last night. After a few minutes, Ernie and Draco came in, followed by three girls and one of the young boys from Karh. Harry thought he had a cabin next to Ernie's and looked like the youngest of the boys from the Monastery, probably only nine.

Harry looked at his watch, and at one to nine, Professor August came in with a smile. He ignored Harry, which Harry thought was just fine so long as he wasn't telling him how horrible he was and spouting off lies that Snape had told him.

"I know at some of your schools a small bit of wandless magic is taught towards the end of your school career. At Boden we teach it from the first year, because while it is difficult to master, the more practice one gets, the more second nature magery becomes. Who can tell me what the first principle of Magery is?"

Harry held his hand up and was surprised no one else knew the answer. It was on the first page of the magery book. Maybe they'd all been out too late to read it though, or hadn't finished their course list until this morning.

August did three sweeps of the room with his eyes. Harry was sure he saw his hand, but was refusing to choose him.

"It's concentration," August said, answering his own question. "Like many of the courses here, you'll find that it will be to your benefit to learn some meditation as it will help a great deal with concentration. Can anyone tell me why concentration is so important in wandless magic?"

Harry held his hand up again, and August ignored him a second time. "It is because in normal magic, you have a wand to channel your energy through. With no wand, you must learn to channel your energy through a hand, a finger, and depending on the spell, sometimes even a foot or your entire body. This takes a great deal of effort, and this is why I say that the more practice you get, the easier it will become. For most of you it should already be second nature to raise your wand and encant a spell. This is what you must learn for wandless magic."

Several more questions were asked and Harry raised his hand several more times, but he was never called on, despite the fact that no one else ever did raise their hand. By the end of the hour, Harry was a little irritated, but hoped that the rest of the day would go better. August released them at five til' and Harry hurried down the path to building 5. Ernie broke off to go to another course, but Draco followed Harry. He'd hoped to see Hermione, but thought for the first time that maybe he'd made his schedule completely different than hers.

"How many classes are you taking?" Harry asked as he and Draco sat down at the front of the room, again at separate student desks.

Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. "None of your business Potter."

Harry took out his book and note book to read over the notes he'd taken the night before, but just as he'd started to read, Draco said, "Five. Mother is making me learn Violin."

"That sounds fun," Harry said honestly, aside from the fact that Snape probably taught that, he wouldn't have minded learning an instrument if he had time or an instrument to practice on.

"I won't have any free time."

Harry thought of his own schedule with nine classes. He thought maybe even Hermione might have a heart attack if she saw it, and wondered which classes she was taking.

Snape walked in then and Harry wondered if this was his first class of the day.

"Follow me. Bring your belongings."

The class rose and followed him outside. Aside from Harry and Draco there were five others. Harry and Draco were the only boys. Snape lead them to the outdoor practice field by the cliffs and just as he had been yesterday, Harry was swept up in the beauty of the sight of the ocean before them.

"Pay attention Potter!" Snape snapped, and Harry's eyes came around to where he was standing in the center of the large circle the class had formed. He didn't think the professor had said anything yet, so why should he be chastised for looking at the ocean for a moment?

"All of your reading will be done before you come to class each day. There will be no homework in this class aside from to practice what you are taught. The best way to learn in this class is to practice. Now, I want you to pair off and stand opposite your partner fifteen paces apart. Then you will watch my demonstration, and practice on each other."

Harry looked around and saw Draco doing the same. He didn't really want to be paired with Draco, but he didn't know anyone else and wasn't sure he wanted to be paired with a girl if they were going to be practicing defensive and offensive spells. Draco seemed to be thinking the same thing so he walked fifteen paces from Harry and stood facing him.

Snape looked around, and realizing they had an odd number, said, "Draco, pair up with Lyn."

Harry frowned. He was taking away his partner? Then who would he practice with? Draco gave a dissatisfied look but didn't say anything and walked over to face the only girl from Karh, and who looked like she was so small a big gust of wind might carry her away. She was probably about nine like the boy whose cabin was next to Ernie's.

"Now then, we are going to be practicing the whirlwind charm. If you are taking Wandless Magic then it is imperative that you learn this charm now, as you will be practicing it tomorrow with Professor August.

Harry didn't bother raising his hand to point out that he didn't have a partner, and instead looked around for anything else he might be able to practice on.

Snape demonstrated a charm that produced a powerful gust of wind that was visible and looked like a five foot high white tornado. He directed his charm towards a rock and it levitated off the ground without spinning, sitting on top of the tornado. Maybe Harry could use that, he thought.

"We are practicing on each other because it is easier to learn it while practicing on a living being," Snape said, and he went over the movements again with his wand and instructed them each to try.

Harry went over to the edge of the field and picked up a large rock. It wasn't living, but the moss on the rock was, and he wondered if he could use that to his advantage. It was fifteen minutes before any of his other classmates got the charm to work, but it was only in the last five minutes of class that Harry finally made a little three foot whirlwind and made his rock lift. He was frustrated but determined not to give Snape the pleasure of handicapping him in this or the Magery class.

Finally it was almost eleven though, and without giving Snape the satisfaction of complaining or looking downtrodden, Harry strode off the field with the others with a smile on his face, and headed to the Infirmary in building 8 for Healing. He wondered if both Gan and Adeline would be there teaching together, or if they would take turns.

Instead of being full of desks and chairs, the infirmary had two beds, a cauldron, and several cabinets full of what looked like healing potions.

Gan and Adeline were both there, and Harry found that he was one of only 3 students attending this class at this time. There was a girl from Durmstrang and a boy from Boden.

"Such a small class, Adeline said with a smile in her heavy French accent. "Our last class had twelve." She smiled and didn't stop when she looked at Harry, and relief washed over him. Maybe this class wouldn't be as bad as the others. "It will be easier to teach you with only three," Adeline said, and Harry knew he was going to like her because she seemed so positive. She almost reminded him of Lupin, who could usually spin things in a positive light.

"Shall we get started?" she turned and asked Gan, who was still standing by the counter with his hands behind his back.

He gave a single nod and stepped forward. He wasn't frowning, but compared to Adeline he seemed very serious.

"Today, we will be learning the seven classes of healing potions." His words were measured and slow as if each one had special meaning because he'd taken his time to think on the meaning of each one.

"Can anyone name them?"

Harry held his hand up along with his two classmates.

"Axle," Gan said to the boy from Boden.

"The first one is exterior."

"Yes. Basia?"

"Exterior and blood restorative."

Harry's hand was still in the air.

"Mr. Potter." He didn't flinch at the use of his last name instead of his first as Gan had done with the other two.

"Exterior, blood restorative, core replenishing, core diminishing, anti-magical, interior vital, and interior non-vital."

Gan stared at him and seemed to be considering his answer, perhaps to see what he could find wrong with it. Harry hoped he'd said the names right though. Snape had taught them this in first year and he'd tried to read through the first few pages of the text last night.

"Yes Mr. Potter," Gan said in his even measured voice. His face never changed, but Adeline looked happy that he'd known them all.

"Well done Harry," she said. "Do you know what each of them is for?"

"Yes maam."

Harry tried to the best of his ability to tell them what each class of potion did, and noted that his two classmates were taking notes as he spoke. So this was what Hermione felt like, he thought. He'd never really put too much effort into his schoolwork beyond the minimum except in Defense, but if this is what Hermione felt like all the time, he thought, that might change.

Gan and Adeline showed them upwards of forty potions in the cabinets and described the uses of each before the end of class, and as class ended and his classmates followed Gan out the door, Adeline put a hand on Harry's wrist to stop him.

"Do you have an interest in healing Harry?"

He shrugged. "It's nice to know how to heal yourself if you have to."

She gave him a smile and then let him go out the door and into the bright sunlight.

As Harry ate lunch, again by himself, he reviewed his day so far. August had ignored him in Magery, Snape had snapped at him and taken his partner in Defense, and Healing wasn't bad at all. He ate quickly and then took his bag outside and picked a spot on the grass to study. No one else was out here and he found he liked the peace and quiet of nature where no one was there to judge him.

Gan hadn't been so bad in Healing, Harry thought, so he was looking forward to Root Defense with him as soon as the lunch hour was over. He also thought the building Root Defense was held in was kind of cool. It was basically a deck with a high roof held up by four pillars, and two walls with holes in them in an intricate design. It was like a gazebo but had a very oriental feel to it. He wondered if maybe it had been built just for Gan or the other teachers from the Monastery to use each year.

The Root Defense text was the hardest he'd tried to read so far. It had technical descriptions and diagrams of the oriental fighting style moves he'd be learning, and technical descriptions of the magic as well, but the diagrams of how to combine the two were confusing, and Harry was still only on page three when it was time to go to class.

He headed to the gazebo building, number 11, and wondered whether to sit or stand. The oldest looking of the three Karh boys came and sat crosslegged at the edge so Harry did the same. The boy was also barefoot, but Harry wasn't sure why so he didn't take his shoes off. He also didn't want to showcase his black and blue right foot.

Gan came a few minutes later, followed by seven other students, though none aside from Harry were from Gryffindor.

"If you are opposed to hard work, difficulty, or following directions, this is not the class for you," Gan said. He didn't look at Harry or any of the other students, but after what Snape had told the staff, Harry was sure that message was meant for him. He was surprised though when one of the girls got up and apologized to Gan before leaving.

"Is there anyone else?"

No one else rose, so he continued, hands behind his back, as always. "Today I have with me one of my students from Karh, Kushi. He will help to demonstrate Root Defense before he goes to his next course."

Kushi stood up, bowed to Gan, who gave a small bow in return, put his open hand over his fist and then took a step back into some sort of fighting stance. Harry wished he had some room to scoot back as the mesmerizing demonstration ensued over the next three or four minutes. Gan (despite that he looked in his sixties or older) and Kushi leapt and twisted, struck, kicked and dodged, and at specific moments in specific moves there were little bursts of light or blasts of energy from both their fists and feet. In the end Kushi was bested and ended up on the floor, but he stood, put his hand and fist together again and bowed to Gan.

"Thank you Kushi. You may go."

"Yes teacher."

He bent down outside the gazebo on the grass and picked up his shoes and moved off.

"Who tried to read the text book last night?"

Harry raised his hand along with a few others.

"How many of you were confused?"

The hands including Harry's stayed up in the air.

"What I will attempt to teach you, and what you will attempt to learn over the next month and a half, is what Kushi has spent seven years learning, and what I have spent a life time learning. Some of you will persevere and being the process of learning Root, others will wither and turn away from it. You cannot follow only one principle, or two, you must follow all. For you this may be a class you will take and never think about again. For those who devote their life to it, it is a lifestyle. It takes dedication, perseverance, and hard work." He stared around at the group. "Are you still interested?"

Harry was still mesmerized by the display and wondered why they hadn't done this yesterday. He looked around and noted that two more of his classmates had stood up and were walking away. That left five including Harry.

"I see. The first principle of Root is respect. We respect ourselves, we respect our elders, we respect others, we respect life, we respect the space given to us to learn in. Root is not to take life, it is not to injure, it is to defend. Part of respecting your own life is to defend it when in danger. Part of respecting others and life itself, is not taking life unless you have to."

Gan sat down and crossed his legs as some of his students had done. "When it is time to listen, we respect our elders by sitting attentively, and listening. You may take notes if you wish, but one should not talk or let themselves be distracted. We respect the space given to us to learn in, by removing our shoes and socks. This is also done so that you may be rooted to the world around you with your feet and feel the magic therin, because, if you cannot feel the magic in the world around you, how will you defend yourself in this world?"

There was a shuffle of movement as people around Harry began taking their shoes and socks off. Harry had a problem. He wanted to learn this, but his black and blue foot was going to be a problem, not only if people saw it, but because without his shoes it was almost unbearable to walk on. His too tight shoes helped to bind it and keep it from moving around too much.

Harry untied his shoes and wrenched them off and hurriedly removed his socks and sat cross-legged, bag in front of his foot to hide it. Hopefully no one would see and he wouldn't be called on to practice until he could get his hands on some bruise balm or until the bruises had more time to heal.

"Now we may begin."

Harry was still thinking about Root Defense through Occlumency (nothing more than a lecture at this point about what he'd already been taught by Snape), and into the start of Muggle Defensive Tactics, which was also being held on the practice field that afternoon. His attention was brought back to the present when Professor Blazhe called him to the center of the group for a demonstration. They hadn't been taught anything yet, so Harry was a little nervous. His only experience in Muggle fighting was running from Dudley and his gang and covering his face when uncle Vernon was angry.

"Stand there, in the middle," Blazhe said in his thick accent. "Good, now show me a defensive stance."

Harry wasn't sure what to do and didn't want to look like a fool by putting his arms over his face, so he got into the stance he'd seen Kushi start out with in Root Defense.

"No no, none of that Root stuff Potter. This is Muggle Defense. Fist fighting, boxing, kick boxing."

Harry stood up and put his fists up, but only succeeded in making Blazhe laugh. Ernie was in this class too with a dozen other students and Harry was chagrined to hear them all laughing. Maybe his focus was too much on his classmates behind him then because out of nowhere a fist came flying at his face and Harry dodged it and threw his arm up sideways, catching the fist on his forearm.

"How did you know how to do that?" Blazhe asked seriously.

"I- I don't know," Harry said. Well, he did know. It always seemed to hurt less if he caught his uncle or Dudley's fists on his arm.

"The forearm is the best place to block," Blazhe said to the class. "It's strong, and there's a lot of space to block with." Harry was listening intently, but then suddenly he found himself flat on his back on the grass, staring up at the sky. The class was laughing again.

"What did Potter do wrong?" he asked, and someone must have raised his hand because Blazhe called out a name and a girl said, "he didn't pay attention."

"He wasn't paying attention," Blazhe said with a little laugh. Then he bent down over Harry and said in a low voice, "That seems to be a problem with you Potter, right?"

Harry got up off the grass and took a defensive stance again. Blazhe's smile disappeared. "Go stand with your classmates Potter, before you embarrass yourself again."

Angry, Harry did as he was told and was aware that his face was red for the remainder of class. At the end he didn't feel much like going to Drawing since that was going to be taught by Blazhe too, but he wanted to see what the class would be like and he'd always wanted to learn to draw, so he went to tiny building six and sat in one of the student desks. Draco was already there, scribbling on a piece of paper, and so were two others Harry didn't know.

"Drawing?" Harry asked Draco, feeling in a sullen mood.

"The only class my parents let me pick," Draco said. "And besides I had violin last class in here so I don't have to walk anywhere in between."

"Huh."

Blazhe came in and looking smug upon seeing Harry there, passed out several sheets of thick paper to each of the four students and gave them each a little wooden box. Harry opened his up to find several pieces of charcoal, an eraser, a fine fountain pen, two black pencils, and a strange long piece of paper that was wound up tight like a pencil.

"These are yours to keep," Blazhe said. "I'll give you each a drawing pad at the end of the lesson. Right now, I want you each to draw a self-portrait. I don't care what it looks like as long as you do your best. We'll compare your self-portrait from today, with the final portrait you'll draw at the end of the summer. You've got an hour. Please don't talk unless you have a question."

Harry took one of the pencils out and considered his blank sheet of paper. He didn't know how to draw himself. He'd done stick figures on the sides of his notes before, but that was it."

"You'll need these too," Blazhe said, and he handed out small mirrors. Harry looked at himself. He had green eyes and a scar. Those were the only two defining characteristics anyone ever mentioned about him, aside from his messy hair maybe. He started with the scar. He hated the stupid thing, it was jagged and nasty and he always tried to hide it under his bangs. Next he did the eyes and tried to make them eye shape and even with each other. At the end of the hour, Harry stared at his ugly picture. He wasn't pleased with it at all. He looked over at Draco's too though and didn't feel so bad. Draco's was about as stick figure-ish as his was.

"Ok, hand them in," Blazhe said. Harry handed his to Draco who handed his to the girl in front of him, and finally it made its way up to the front.

"Here are your drawing pads. Your homework is to read to page ten and do the exercises in the book in the drawing pad. This class isn't for credit, so if you want to fill up the pages with your own drawings, feel free. When you run out, come back and I'll give you another drawing pad. You're also going to be drawing a self-portrait at the end of each week, so get used to looking at yourself in the mirror as you draw."

Harry packed up his things and as he went outside he noted that most students seemed to be done for the day now that it was five o'clock, and were either lounging around out on the grass studying or talking, or going in and out of their cabins. Harry wasn't done though. He had a half hour of meditation to go to with Gan, and headed out to the practice field for the third time that day. So far on the field he'd been ignored and embarrassed and he wondered what his third time would be like. When he got there, all four students from Karh were already sitting there crosslegged and shoeless with their eyes closed facing the ocean along with Gan. Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to do or if there would be any instruction, so he sat down quietly and took his shoes and socks off, again placing his bag in front of his black foot, and closed his eyes, trying to think of the notes he'd taking yesterday about meditation. He tried to clear his mind of all the horrible things that had happened so far that day and just relax, and was startled when a hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder. He jumped, not used to people touching him, and looked over to find Kushi standing behind him. "Class is over," he said quietly.

Harry frowned and then looked down at his watch. He'd only closed his eyes for a minute and then a half hour had passed.

"Oh, ok, thanks," he said quietly. He put his shoes and socks back on and stood up to go to dinner. He was so relaxed that he forgot he had a half hour of free time and went to the Dining Hall anyway, which was empty, so he sat down and pulled out his books to start his homework. He studied while he ate and tried to ignore the laughter and happy chatter around him. He wondered if Hermione had completely forgotten about him, and looked around to see who she was sitting with but found that she was absent. Then he remembered that dinner was served for two hours instead of one, and that some classes were held during this time and wondered what class she was taking.

Feeling exhausted from his first day, Harry packed up after dinner and headed to his final class for the day: Classic Muggle and Magical Literature. He wasn't looking forward to another class with Professor August, but he thought maybe Iva might be ok as he'd heard some people talking about her over lunch and at dinner. He went back to the building 1 at the far end of the compound, which had a big porch facing the sea, and found Iva and August sitting outside with three students. Iva handed him a book and he sat down on the porch steps, staring out at the ocean until class started. As it turned out, they weren't going to learn anything today. Instead Iva and August told them to read chapter one of the book and gather their thoughts on it and how it compared to history in the world of magic despite it being a Muggle novel, and to come to class prepared to talk about it tomorrow night. Harry thumbed through the fifteen pages of the first chapter and thought it looked doable, especially since he'd finished two assignments during dinner. Class was dismissed and he headed off in the direction of his cabin, feeling like he could use a nap. As he passed by the practice field, he took note that Gan was still there meditating, though there were no students.

Harry didn't feel much like being alone in his cabin after an entire day alone, so he passed his cabin by and decided to explore the wooded area behind it for a while. There was still an hour or so of daylight left.

He admired the gnarled trees and how each one looked different from the next, and was surprised to find that many of the trees bore fruit, but each tree had a different kind. One tree had apples, another pineapples, another pears, another tomatoes (yes it really did he was certain). He touched the mossy trunks as he walked by and was surprised to feel the tingle of magic as he did so, and was also surprised to find that each tree felt different in the magic it held. Deep in the woods, he picked a spot on the cliff where he could sit amongst the gnarled roots and look out over the ocean. He took his shoes and socks off and tried to relax. Out here he could be happy, he thought to himself. There was no one to listen to lies about him or look down their noses at him. It was too bad Hermione seemed to be so busy and into her new friends, he thought, because she probably would have liked it out here. He took out the novel and started reading chapter one. It was near dark when he finally made his way back to his cabin. He could hear laughter and down the hill he saw another group of students going down to the beach, probably for another bonfire and wondered if Hermione and Draco and Ernie were with them, and then he went inside to do the rest of his homework.

The End.
End Notes:
So what did you think of Harry's classes and the way he's being treated? There will be Snape Harry interactions more and more as we go along, I promise. What are some things you'd like to see?


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