Harry's second and third days of class went about as well as his first. His professors ignored him, embarrassed him, or looked down their noses at him. Gan was all right he supposed, and Adeline was very nice, but the rest he could do without.

His assumption that he could handle Snape here was also proving too difficult to be true. In Occlumency the man took every chance he got to snap at Harry, even if Harry hadn't done anything wrong, and in Advanced Defensive Tactics he kept keeping Harry away from any partners he needed to practice. Harry found that the more Snape put him down or yelled at him, the more the other students treated him like a lepper. Draco, he supposed, had always treated him like a lepper, so he didn't much count, but that was beside the point.

By day four, when Snape announced that they would begin practicing Occlumency and that they would all be practicing alone with him for ten minutes at a time while the others waited outside and quizzed each other on the text, Harry was certain he would be dropping the class. The last time he'd been alone in a room with this man, he'd throw a giant jar of cockroaches at his head. Snape of course, called Harry into the room to practice first, and he nervously obliged. It was only a few minutes before the students sitting outside on the grass heard Snape yelling at Harry inside followed by Harry storming out of the building angrily. He had been trying to occlude, he really had, but Harry would bet anything that Snape wouldn't be yelling at any of the other students or putting them down, or putting their parents down. He angrily pulled his schedule out of his bag and scribbled out Occlumency, and wrote ‘free time' next to it. It wouldn't really be free time of course, because he still had to learn Occlumency or else Dumbledore would be disappointed with him, and because he was overloaded with other work that had to be done. Most of his classes didn't require him to write essays, but because they had such a short time together, the students were expected to get through every page in their text books by the end of the summer, and with nine books, plus practicing and other homework, that was a lot of reading. Just in Literature alone they'd already finished the first novel in under a week and had moved on to a second. While Harry enjoyed reading the novels he didn't think he'd ever done this much reading in his life with the novels and all of his text books.

The only classes Harry really considered going well for him were Literature (where he was often ignored and not asked questions), Root Defense, where he was quickly becoming obsessed even though he'd yet to be called on to practice, and Healing, where Adeline was kind to him and he got to exercise his new knowledge by answering questions. He also liked healing because they got to practice actual healing spells on injured plants and sometimes injured animals that Adeline had found in the fields or forest, like mice and rabbits, and one morning, a dead fish they brought back to life. Also, Gan and Adeline took them out into the Gemini wood and they gathered potions ingredients, which Harry found he quite liked and wondered why Snape never had them go and get their own ingredients on the grounds at Hogwarts. While most of the students continued to ignore him, Axle, the boy from Boden that he had Healing with, sometimes talked to him, and even hinted at maybe studying together at some point, though he didn't say when.

When the weekend came, Harry found that they had Saturday off, but were required to gather after dinner on Saturday for a lesson and question and answer session on cultural differences between the attending schools. The first Saturday, the Professors from Durmstrang spoke about their customs in everything from eating to holidays to how students behave in school, and then allowed students from other schools to ask questions, and students from Durmstrang to answer. Harry liked it and looked forward to next Saturday, even if no one ever called on him when he raised his hand to ask a question.

They had Sunday off too, and because Harry had spent the majority of the day Saturday studying and trying to catch up on his reading and other work, he was feeling burnt out and ready for a break on Sunday. Not knowing anybody else, he decided to see if Hermione was free to ask if she wanted to go see the forest. Every night after classes and dinner Harry had taken to the woods to sit at his special tree, one of the trees without fruit, and stare out at the ocean and study. Sometimes he meditated and sometimes he drew.

He went to Hermione's cabin and was happy to find the door open, though there were three other girls inside and they were all sitting on the floor or bed with Hermione and studying.

"Harry!" Hermione said happily, and the other three girls looked up, many of them throwing a look of dislike in Harry's direction.

"I er, I didn't mean to interrupt your studying," he said, standing on the threshold of the porch and inside.

"No, it's ok. I feel like I haven't really seen you at all this week."

"Will you be free later today?"

"Well, we're going swimming later, do you want to come?"

He smiled. "Sure. What time?" He hadn't been to the beach yet and he could hardly believe he hadn't been in the seven days they'd been there when it had been on the top of his to do list when they'd arrived.

"Meet back here in an hour."

"Ok." He waved goodbye and went back to his cabin to get his towel. It was the same towel he'd used for the last four years. Aunt Petunia didn't like him to use any of the other ‘family' towels as if he would spread magic germs to them if he did. It was thin and frayed on one end and looked like it was ready for the bin, but he took it anyway and threw it over his shoulder. He sat down to do a few minutes of studying himself and then went back to Hermione's cabin.

She was sitting on the steps of her porch with her own towel. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Where are your friends?"

"Oh, er, they already went down there. We can meet them there."

"Ok."

She lead off down the path right beside her cabin and Harry felt happy for the first time that week.

"So how has your week been Harry?"

"You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Heard what Snape told the staff and apparently what the staff told all the other students."

"Oh, that. Well, I know it's not true."

"Good, because it's been a pretty horrible week, thanks to Professor Horrible himself."

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks. It hasn't all been bad, Gan and Adeline are nice and Iva is ok. I read and study though and then the rest of the teachers ignore me and won't call on me, and Snape won't let me have a partner in Defense Tactics and Blazhe keeps choosing me to make an example of in Muggle Defense."

"That sounds awful."

He shrugged as they began their descent down the sandy path. Halfway down the path split and went straight ahead or to the left. Harry could see a beautiful little alcove straight ahead full of students, and to the left he saw a long sandy beach and a very long path to the water.

"I quit Occlumency."

"So you're only taking three classes then?"

"Eight."

Hermione almost choked. "Eight! I'm only taking six!"

"Well, I have nothing else to do. You're off with your friends, nobody invites me to go to the bonfires, nobody sits with me at meals or wants to study with me. What else am I going to do? They all think I'm lazy because that's what Snape said, but I'm not, I study really hard. Hermione, you would have been proud. On the first day I was the only one to know the answers or even raise my hand for most of the classes, but they all ignored me. The only time I got to show what I learned was in Healing."

He looked at Hermione and was surprised to see her turning red.

"Are you- are you ok Hermione?"

She raised both hands which were in fists. "Oh I can't believe it," she said through gritted teeth, and Harry raised his brows. Usually the only one who could get Hermione this mad was Ron, and the last time he'd made her really mad she'd actually slapped him across the face in the hall between classes.

"Sorry, but I made you mad?"

"No Harry, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad that this is happening to you. You paid 100 Galleons to come here, we all did, and you deserve to be here. The reason it's so expensive is because you're supposed to be treated so well, but they're being so horrible to you!"

"It's Snape's fault," Harry said. "I heard him telling the staff all these lies on the first night, but I guess he'd already told them things before that. He even said-"

Hermione stopped walking. They were still a good four minutes away from the bottom of the cliff and the start of the beach. "He even said what?"

"He even said it was my fault that Sirius died."

"AHH!"

Harry startled as Hermione actually screamed.

"What?" He thought maybe something sharp had gotten into her sandals.

"Harry, I think you should write to Professor Dumbledore."

"Why? What good would that do?"

"There has to be something. They have to listen to him."

"But it's not like that here. There's no one in charge here, no headmaster. They're all from different places and have different governments. Why would they listen to Dumbledore? To them this war with Voldemort isn't even real. I heard them saying that I'm not famous where they're from and when I defeated him as a baby it was a long time ago so I shouldn't be famous here either."

Hermione was shaking her head.

"Harry, I'm sorry I've neglected to sit with you at meals this whole week. I feel horrible now."

"Why? You made lots of new friends and were busy, there's no reason to feel horrible."

"Yes there is. I knew you hadn't made any friends yet and what other people were saying about you, and I told them it wasn't true, but my new friends didn't want to go swimming with you or study with you. I've been a horrible friend."

Harry looked at the ground as the path became sandy suddenly. "S'ok," he said.

"No, no it's not, and I want to change classes to get into some of yours."

"I don't want to mess up your classes."

"You won't. I can rearrange my schedule. We'll do it when we get back from swimming."

"Really?"

"Yes. There has to be at least one class we can take together."

"Well if you could get into Snape's Defensive Tactics class, that would be good. I have to know what he's teaching and I need a partner to practice on and it's an odd number. If you come in it'll be even and even if I don't get you I'll be able to practice with someone."

"I've been taking that at eight am. If I switch it with my Piano lesson it should be fine."

"What classes are you taking anyway?"

"Advanced Defensive Tactics, Piano, Magery, Muggle and Magic Law, Healing, and Literature."

"When are you in Literature?"

"During the first dinner hour."

"I'm in it during the second."

"I can switch that too."

Harry laughed and Hermione looked over at him as the path finally leveled out and they made the beach.

"What?"

"I was just thinking, what a cool friend I have."

She gave him a little nudge. "Harry, don't kid."

"I'm not, I'm not." He laughed and took off running then towards the water, Hermione right behind him. They dropped their towels on the beach in an unoccupied spot and Hermione showed him how to do the flotation charm and they dove in. The charm let them dive down but never more than a foot or two. They swam for almost two hours, and Harry thought that in all his life, he'd never had a better time.

* * *

Harry wished that Sunday could have lasted forever. After swimming, Hermione rearranged her schedule and they went to study in the Gemini wood where Harry showed her his special studying spot.

"They're strange trees," Hermione said. "I've looked everywhere and not one of my books says why they grow different fruits."

"They have different magic too," Harry said, "feel the trunk."

She did and they talked about it in between studying. Unfortunately Sunday came to an end all too soon and on Monday, Harry was certain that even with Hermione's new schedule, he would have a repeat of the previous week.

Magery started out ok and Harry was able to correctly preform his first simple spell without a wand, and was actually looking forward to Advanced Defensive Tactics with Snape so he could tell Hermione about his accomplishment and have a partner to practice with. Snape however did not seem pleased with Hermione's change in schedule, as now it had left his other class, the one she had left, with an odd number of students. When Harry walked up to the training field, he found Hermione and Snape in a heated debate.

He waited patiently for them to finish, and watched as other students looked on in horror, amazed that she was speaking to a professor that way. Finally Snape seemed to realize there were other students around and broke off his conversation with Hermione, who went to stand next to Harry.

"Was all that about me?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms and looking close to tears herself. "But you're right, he is Professor Horrible."

"You're turning into Ron in his absence," Harry joked, nudging her a little, and she did smile a little, but he could tell she wasn't happy.

"He told me to transfer to the other class and I told him no."

"And?"

"And he said he knew what I was doing in this class and I was going to end up losing my friends and status with the teachers her by associating myself with you."

"So- it was about me," Harry said.

"It's none of his business, and I could care less what others think of me. I was friends with you a long time before I was friends with any of them. I told him that and I asked if he was going to say horrible things about me to the other professors too."

"Is that when he blew a gasket?"

"Yes."

"And is he?"

"He accused me of being a follower in your fan club and I said it wasn't like that, and he told me he was not going to lie about any student and that he certainly didn't tell any lies about you."

"Great, well, at least you're safe," Harry said. He crossed his arms, mimicking her and said, "Don't worry about it. If push comes to shove you can go back to the other class. I'll take the practice time I can get with you while I have it."

"I'm not going to back down," she said.

"See," Harry said. "You're getting more stubborn, like Ron."

"Well I never appreciated it until now."

"I'll be sure to tell him that," Harry said with a smile. She looked at him with wide eyes and was about to beg him not to, but Snape cleared his throat then at the front of the group since the rest of the students had arrived and they looked at him.

"Pair up. Today we're doing something different."

Harry and Hermione stood together as they were and let the others move off to find their partners.

"You will be dueling in pairs today now that we have an even number. There are six groups of two. Potter, Miss Granger, you will be dueling Lyn and Jacques."

The other pair came to stand next to them and Harry was surprised. Lyn and Jacques, from what he had seen, were formidable duelers, which was even more surprising given Lyn's size and age. He had learned for sure now that she was only nine. Snape paired the other groups up and then said, "You have one hour. I will put a spell on each one of you that will tell me your location and physical condition at all times. You will spread out away from the school buildings to any part of the school grounds and duel your opponents. The first team to incapacitate both of their opponents gets the high mark for today. The first team to have both members incapacitated will get a failing mark for the day. Everyone else will get a passing grade. Stay away from the buildings," he warned again. "You may go to the beach, the fields, the hills, or the forest. You have ten minutes before you must start dueling."

They stood there, uncertain if they were dismissed or not and Snape said, "Go now." Harry was surprised he didn't bark it, especially given the intent look of dislike he was sending Harry's way as Harry and Hermione took off towards the forest, Lyn and Jacques right behind them. Friday they had started to read in their books about avoiding detection and capture and about fighting in unfamiliar terrain, and Harry tried to remember every word that he'd read as they ran up the hill past his cabin and into the woods.

Harry stopped and turned to the other team. "We have five minutes left. Spread out and in five minutes we'll start."

Lyn nodded and ran off with her partner without a word.

"Ok, what are we going to do?" Hermione asked, and Harry was surprised she was automatically deferring to him. "Don't give me that look," she reprimanded him, "you're the top of our year in defense and we both know it."

He nodded. "Ok. Lyn is small, she can be hiding anywhere, and Jacques is fast with his wand and I'm pretty sure he's had Magery before he came here. He's a year older and most of his spells come out without words. I think we should take up a position high up where we can see a lot of area but still be hidden. Then we need to both fire on one at a time and take them out. Even if one of us misses, the other wont. Then work on the other."

"Let's go then."

They snuck off in the opposite direction from their opponents and chose two separate trees to climb high up into.

"Don't fall," Harry warned her before she climbed into hers. "Conjure a rope around one of your hands and the branch to keep from falling out if you're stunned or hexed." She nodded and moved off. The way the branches were gnarled and twisted together made it easy to climb.

Harry climbed the tree ten feet from Hermione's and they made eye contact high up in the branches and then kept a lookout. A moment later they saw Jacques climbing up a tree thirty feet away and Harry pointed. Hermione nodded. They knew where he was so they'd take him out first. They both aimed and fired some of the new spells they'd learned from Snape last week and from their books, and Jacques fell from the first branch he reached, stunned and lying motionless on the dirt. A moment later a red shot of light came out from behind a large root sticking out of the dirt next to Jacques' tree and it narrowly missed Harry's head. Another shot came and grazed past Hermione's shoulder.

"We've been made!" Harry shouted, and jumped from his tree, cursing when he landed on his black and blue foot. Hermione climbed down on the safe side of her tree and they began dodging and running for cover in opposite directions. From Lyn's vantage point there was no way they could hit her with a hex.

Harry motioned for Hermione to circle around while he drew fire and she did so, but just as she was almost behind Lyn, the small girl leapt up and ran off, shooting hexes behind her all the way at Harry and Hermione.

They ran for a long distance like this and Harry was aware that they'd passed some students gathering ingredients and possibly Adeline. Lyn tripped on a rock and Harry took the chance to run as hard as he could and catch up to her. She got to her feet just as Harry got there and shot a confusion charm at her, but suddenly she leapt up and did some sort of twisted side flip to get out of the way, a pulse of energy coming out of her wand free hand and aiming at Harry in the split second she was upside down. Harry dropped just in time and was on the ground just as she landed on her feet. He had no idea where Hermione was or if she'd been hit as they'd made their mad dash through the woods.

Lyn sent several spells off at once and Harry wasn't sure what was happening or how he was doing it, but his hands were on the cold damp earth and he was certain he could feel the pulse of the magic flowing towards him. It was as if time had slowed somehow and he was going in slow motion. He dodged left, dodged right, and twisted to get out of the way of the third spell. Then he hip chucked and used the momentum in one swift motion to leap back to his feet. Lyn aimed several more curses at his head but they never made their target, because Harry was twisting like in a dance and allowing the spells to move around him. In the heat of the moment, it all seemed so simple, just move aside and let the curses move around him. And then he remembered his own wand and as he dodged a green jet of light he shot off a stunning charm and it found its target right in the center of her chest. She fell over backwards, stiff as a board.

He stared for a moment, breathing heavily to be sure she was down, and then looked around. "Hermione?"

Her head popped up from behind a gnarled tree root.

"Here I am."

"What are you doing over there?"

"Waiting for you to get hit. I didn't want her to know where I was in case you went down. I thought I could surprise her then and take her out."

Harry shook his head, surprised. It was a good move. He waved his wand over Lyn then and she unfroze, and he held his hand down to her.

"You were great," he said with a grin.

"Not so great to win."

He waved her away. "You gave us a run for our money. When you started using Root I thought I was done for sure."

"You used Root more than I did."

He stared.

"I didn't do any Root."

"You did. You felt all of my magic coming."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but I didn't think that was Root. I haven't even had a chance to do it in class yet."

"No," she said, "no one ever does. Now that you've done it, you will though."

Harry wasn't sure what she was talking about, but then she pointed behind Harry and he looked and saw Gan there with his hands behind his back through the trees. He turned and walked away and Harry's heart started beating hard again. Oh no. What must that have looked like to him? Two sixteen year olds chasing his nine year old student through the forest in a fierce fire fight?

"Come on, let's go find Jacques," Hermione said. "He needs unfreezing too."

When they found Jacques, all of them suddenly glowed blue and they heard Snape's voice come out of nowhere and say, "Return to the practice field."

Harry was worried all the way back. He had Healing and Root Defense later that day with Gan and was afraid of Gan turning against him too. Not that Gan had been friendly towards him up to this point, but he hadn't been bad or unfair to him either like the others had been.

When they got back to the practice field, they were the only ones there aside from Snape.

"You are the first to return. Which team won?"

Harry raised his hand and Hermione said shortly, "We did sir."

"Fine, you may go for the day. You have the top mark."

Hermione bit her lip. "Sir, they fought well. We almost didn't win. It doesn't seem right that they get a failing grade."

"I will decide that miss Granger. Now be on your way, all of you."

Harry picked up his bag and waited for Hermione. At the edge of the field he turned to Lyn and said, "You really were good. I'll practice with you any time," and then he and Hermione left.

"Where are you off to next?" Harry said.

"I have a free hour before lunch. I've been using it to study. What about you?"

"Healing."

"Well we've still got twenty minutes and I was going to go that way anyway. Want to study before your class?"

"Sure."

They sat outside the Infirmary and studied for twenty minutes and then Harry said goodbye and went inside. Gan wasn't there and Harry's stomach knotted itself up again about what he'd seen in the forest. Axle and Basia came in and leaned against the wall next to Harry and they waited for Adeline or Gan to show up, and finally Adeline did.

"Well, that was quite the performance in the wood this morning Harry," she said to him, grinning. "We were all very impressed. Was that for Defensive Tactics for Professor Snape?"

"Yes maam," Harry said, turning red. Axle and Basia looked at him, wondering what had happened in the Gemini Wood.

"Teacher Gan won't be with us this morning. He's gone to meditate. We'll be going out to the Gemini trees to collect fruit for a potion we'll be brewing tomorrow. As we walk out there, let's talk about the potion."

They followed her out and Harry tried to keep his mind on the lesson instead of wandering to Gan.

At lunch Harry was happy to sit with Hermione and expressed his concern about Gan to her but she told him she was sure it would all be fine, and then after lunch they split up, Hermione going to Piano and Harry heading to the gazebo building for Root Defense, as nervous as ever. It seemed to Harry that his anxiety was well founded when he was asked to come up to the front to practice. Harry looked around nervously. His shoes and socks were off and so far he'd been able to hide it behind his bag. The others were looking at him too. None of them had been called to practice Root yet. So far they'd only practiced meditating and talked about the principles of the art and gone over the reading.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry looked up at Gan's prodding. "Yes teacher," he said, and stood up and made his way to the front, the cool ocean air sweeping through the large open gazebo and acting as though it wanted to calm Harry's nerves. He was certain Gan was going to make an example of him for treating Lyn as he had in the wood.

"Mr. Potter is the first to achieve a state of Root awareness," Gan said in his even, measured pace, and the class seemed interested.

"This morning as he pursued a student through the Gemini Wood for another class in a duel, I observed him dodge fifteen hexes and curses aimed at him from less than five feet away. Would you like to tell us what that felt like?"

"Yes teacher," Harry said. "Um... I wasn't sure what was happening. We were dueling, and I ducked to get out of the way of a spell and ended up on the ground. And then suddenly, I realized my hands were on the cold earth, and I could feel- I don't know, it was like a shock wave I guess. I felt different shockwaves coming at me and I knew it was magic. So when I felt one on the left, I moved to the right. And when one was on the right, I moved to the left. I didn't know how I was doing it, but it seemed like everything was moving slower... happening slower."

"And was your opponent using Root Defense?"

"Yes teacher."

"And did you win your duel?"

"Yes teacher, but barely. I was surprised I did." Having nowhere else to look he looked at some of the students and was aware that two or three of the four sitting on the floor were looking at his foot.

"Why were you surprised? Are you not top of your year in defense at Hogwarts?"

"Yes sir, I am," he said, "but she was moving so fast. She had three spells off at me before I could even react, and she was twisting and dodging everything I sent at her."

Gan nodded. "You and I will practice now. Put down your wand." Harry stepped back and set his wand on his bag, having trouble standing on his bare foot, especially after he'd dropped from the tree onto it this morning, and feeling more and more uncomfortable the longer it was exposed to everyone.

"Assume the first defensive stance," Gan said and Harry assumed the stance Kushi had taken on the first day of classes. It was the most stable stance according to the book.

"Good. Now, close your eyes, and feel your feet against the wood."

Harry did as he was told, aware that the wood was worn smooth by years of rain and wind battering against it through the openness and lack of walls. He let his toes slide along the wood.

"Feel the magic as it flows towards you, and react," Gan said, and Harry concentrated hard, trying to sense any feeling of a shockwave as he had earlier. Then, as suddenly as Gan had stopped speaking, Harry found himself lying on his back on the floor with a warm sensation in his chest where he'd been hit with a stunning spell. He opened his eyes and Gan waved his hand over Harry to release the spell. Harry got up and his face turned red. He knew it, this was just like Muggle Defense and Gan was mad at him and set to embarrass him.

"Why did he not feel the shockwave of the magic traveling towards him?" Gan asked not to Harry but to his four classmates.

"No one?" He turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter?"

He shook his head.

"The Gemini trees take in the magic from the students who visit and spell cast. It permeates their roots, falls from their leaves and decomposes into soil, that then feeds the roots. Every spell Lyn sent at him this morning radiated out to the trees, down through their roots, and into the soil. Mr. Potter, touching the soil with his hands, and then his feet, even through his shoes, felt the magic coming and was able to get out of the way. Now, why wasn't he able to do that here?"

"There's no trees here," a girl from Boden said.

"But there is wood, wood from Gemini trees," Gan said, motioning to the floor and pillars and roof.

"The tree isn't alive," a boy said.

"The soil and grass beneath the floor is alive, the worms and insects beneath the floor are alive."

No one else answered and Harry finally said, "I'm not good enough yet teacher." He looked at the floor.

"Sit down," Gan said, and Harry sat cross-legged again on the floor, pulling his bag in front of his foot.

"It is not that he is not good enough, it is that the trees channel energy easier. Where there is already an abundance of magic, it is easier to feel magic. Root Defense, is always best learned where there is a Root of magic already, a foot hold. I suspect once you learn, you will all do well with this when you return back to your own schools, where magic abounds already, soaked up into the floors, ceiling, walls... once you learn it in a place abundant with magic, you will be able to better practice it in a place without. That is why Mr. Potter did not preform here. He is not well practiced enough."

Harry looked up. So maybe Gan wasn't all that upset with him. He hadn't tried to make a fool of him exactly.

Harry went through the rest of the day, his mind again lingering on the lesson in Root, and he let it linger there. During meditation at five, Harry sat on the practice field and once again hid his bare foot behind his bag.

He was startled only a few moments after he'd sat and closed his eyes next to Gan and the four students from Karh when Gan spoke.

"We have already seen the foot Harry Potter. There is no need to continue to hide it." He opened his eyes and saw that Gan and the others still had their eyes closed. If he had not have heard it, Harry would have been sure the man hadn't spoken at all. He tentatively moved the bag away from his foot and then closed his eyes again. He was nervous about someone walking by and seeing it, even though he was on a cliff facing the ocean, but there was something freeing about it too, about not having to hide it. As he meditated, he wondered why he was the only one to join Gan and the four students from Karh in meditation. Maybe the rest of the students went at a different time he thought.

After dinner Harry joined Hermione for Literature, and while Hermione was asked her opinion on several matters in the new novel they were reading, Harry was again ignored, though he listened intently to the discussion as he sat on the front steps of building 1 and stared at the ocean. He and Hermione parted ways after the class because Hermione had already set up a study group for her Law class, and Harry headed back to his cabin, thinking he might change into a new pair of shorts because the pair he was in was dirty from a day of dueling and ending up on the ground from the different defense classes. After he had changed, he didn't feel like going into the forest and instead took his homework and notebooks out onto the porch to sit on the steps and study. He wished he had extra pillows like Hermione, because he would sit on one instead of sitting on the hard wood, but he was just happy to be outside.

Other boys came and went down the two rows of cabins but none paid him any mind. It was almost dark when Harry felt more than saw the presence of someone standing just a foot or so away. He looked up and found Snape.

"Sir?" he asked, not wanting any trouble. He knew he wasn't doing anything wrong by just sitting on his steps studying.

"Potter." The man's eyes raked over him and then flickered down to his notebook and pen.

"Tell me Potter, what you would be doing with that pen and notebook."

"They're mine sir," Harry said. He was feeling tired and suddenly wishing that he'd just gone inside to study to avoid the chance at encountering Snape.

"Funny, I've never seen you at school with a green notebook or fine silver pen embossed with the Slytherin crest."

Harry sighed. "They're mine. I've been using them all week."

"So you would have more of these things inside your room?"

Harry stood up and pushed his door open and went inside. Snape followed him in, and in the tiny cabin it felt cramped with a tall adult in there with him.

He opened his desk drawer to reveal two more brand new notebooks. Why he didn't just say that Draco had given them to him, he didn't know. Probably because the man would never believe him.

"And you happened upon these items how?"

"They're mine."

"So you've said." His eyes scanned over the rest of the room and came to rest on Harry's blanket on the bed he'd just pushed against the wall last night to give himself more room as Hermione had done.

"So I'm to believe that Prince Potter, who owns a Galleon Silver pen and fine Slytherin notebooks, owns a tattered gray blanket a dog wouldn't sleep under?"

Snape snatched up Harry's blanket and held it up. It really did look pitiful. "It's my blanket sir," he said tiredly. He felt cornered and really didn't want to fight.

"Surely any boy who can afford a racing broom and fine Slytherin pens can afford a better blanket." He took two steps and bent down and was suddenly in Harry's face.

"Do you want to know what I think Potter? I think you want people to feel sorry for you. So during the day time when you might have your door open, you put this nasty rag across your bed so that passersby will pity poor Harry Potter. And then at night you replace it with whatever posh comfortable blanket Prince Potter really sleeps with." He waved his wand and the blanket vanished before Harry's eyes. His eyes went wide and Snape smiled, revealing almost perfect teeth that Harry had never seen, because in the past any time Snape smiled students knew to run.

"Would you care to know what else I think Potter? You stole these items from Draco Malfoy, a real Slytherin. A boy who earned his way into this school, a boy whose parents paid good money for this Galleon silver pen." He grabbed Harry's collar and hauled him off the chair to his feet. With his other hand he took the pen and three notebooks and then lead Harry out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him with an unsaid spell.

Harry was dragged unceremoniously down the hill, past a gaggle of onlookers, including Draco, and to the porch of building nine. Harry wasn't sure what they were doing there. He thought that was the study building but he'd never been inside. It was dark out now and Muggle style lighting flickered into life to light up the porch, as well as the outsides of the other large buildings and bathrooms. Snape opened the door, still holding onto Harry's collar and dragged him inside.

He was surprised. It was posh inside, with large overstuffed chairs, three study tables, and walls lined with ceiling high bookshelves aside from where the windows were. There were several teachers inside, including Gan, Adeline, August, and Blazhe. No wonder the study room was off limits after dark, Harry thought. They turned it into a teacher's lounge.

"Severus?" Adeline asked.

He let go of Harry's collar. "I believe Mr. Potter has engaged in theft from another student.

All eyes went to Harry.

"It's a bit stuffy in here Severus, and crowded, let's go out on the porch."

Harry thought it was a good idea because he was feeling trapped in the small room, until they went back out onto the dark cool porch and found a dozen students standing in a group waiting to hear what was going on.

"What makes you think they're not his Severus?" August asked seriously. Theft was a serious break in the code of conduct.

"These are very expensive Slytherin items. He's from the house of Gryffindor. I happen to know for a fact that Gryffindors and Slytherins wouldn't be caught dead using something with the other house's crest on it." He roughly set down the notebooks and pen on the little table sitting between two porch chairs.

Harry looked up and found Gan's eyes on his. "What does Mr. Potter have to say?" he asked Severus, and Severus let out something between a snort of irritation and a laugh. He turned to Harry and all eyes were on him.

"They're mine," Harry said. "All my notes are in them. I've been using them since the first day."

"Is it true that these are Slytherin items?"

"Yes teacher."

"And are you a Gryffindor Harry?" Adeline asked more kindly than the others, but still in a serious tone.

"Yes maam."

"Did you take the items from somebody?"

Snape laughed. "It's not did he take them, it's who did he take them from. There is a Slytherin student here."

"I didn't take them," Harry said, looking at the floor. "They're mine."

"We shall see," Snape said, and he turned to the crowd and spotted Draco, and motioned him to come up to the porch.

"Mr. Malfoy is in Slytherin house, and I have seen him using the same notebooks and pens."

"Draco, are these your belongings?" Blazhe asked, and Draco's eyes flickered to the supplies and then to Harry, and he shrugged. "Don't know."

"You don't know if they are yours?" Adeline asked.

He shrugged again. "Don't know."

Harry was stunned. He never expected Draco to tell them he'd given them to him, but he also didn't expect the blond to miss out on this opportunity to get him into trouble. Draco could have said they were his and Harry was sure he'd be gone by the end of the night, back to the Dursleys.

"If they are yours Potter," Blazhe said, "then where did you buy them?"

Harry shrugged, still looking down at the ground.

"You don't know." Blazhe laughed and Harry was sure he was siding with Snape.

"They were given to me," Harry said.

"There is a tense house rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor Potter. Pray tell, which Slytherin have you befriended and added to your fan club?"

Harry's cheeks turned red and he just wished this was over. If Draco didn't want to say he'd given the items to Harry, then Harry wasn't going to tell on him. It was good enough of Draco as it was to give him the items, especially considering that he now knew how expensive the pen really was.

"Harry, we will need some time to discuss this. Please go and wait in the Dining Hall," Adeline said. Harry nodded and moved off, parting the crowd and staring at the ground the whole way. "You're dismissed too Draco," she told him, and Draco walked off the porch, hands in his pockets and into the darkness, not bothering to rejoin the crowd of students which was staring after Harry and beginning to disperse themselves.

"Severus, if you would call the others. We have some things to discuss."

Five minutes later, Snape was back with the missing staff, and they were sitting inside having a heated debate.

"I also saw pink school supplies in his desk," Severus insisted. Blazhe, August, Iva, and Camille had all voted to expel Harry for the theft and had agreed that Draco was just too good and wasn't saying they were his so that he wouldn't get Harry into trouble. Adeline had voted no however, believing there was more to the story, and Gan was undecided.

"I've seen him in class," Blazhe said. "He doesn't pay attention and he doesn't do very well. I doubt he studies at all."

Gan, hands clasped on the table before him said quietly, "He has done very well in my classes. He is present on time, he has done the homework, he is knowledgeable, and attentive during class."

"I agree," said Adeline. "He shines in Healing and Potions."

Snape snorted then. "He's never done well in Potions at Hogwarts. He hardly turns in anything I can grade as passing."

"I'm with Andrei," August said and nodding towards Blazhe. "I don't think he belongs here. If he's floated through school until now, we can't expect anything out of him here. It's not right that his Headmaster has paid his way either."

Gan cleared his throat. "The monastery paid for all four students to come from Karh."

"That's different," Camille said. "You paid for all attending students, not just one. It shows clear and biased favoritism by the boy's headmaster."

"I've been saying it for years," Severus said with relief in his voice that no one but Gan picked up on.

"I vote for him to leave," Blazhe said, raising his hand, and his hand was joined by three others. Gan and Adeline's hands stayed down.

"It takes all seven votes," Adeline said. "There is more to this story, and there is more to Harry than you're seeing. I won't vote yes until I see other indications that he needs to leave."

"The same, will go for me," Gan said, his even thought out words annoying the others there. Blazhe and Camille threw up their hands.

"I'm going to bed," August said. "And I'll be keeping an even closer eye on him." He stood up and went to the door. "Good catch Severus. This is strike one."

Feeling frustrated Severus nodded and followed him out, muttering. The staff dispersed, leaving Gan and Adeline alone in the stuffy room.

After long moments, Gan said, "The boy is hiding something."

"Like more thefts?"

"Like something he is not telling us. I am beginning to think he is hiding something about Severus Snape."

"About Severus?"

"I will not speak of it any more tonight, because I am not certain, and it is unwise to spread rumors."

Adeline sighed. "I feel like no one's seeing him, not even us."

"Snape?"

"Harry."

"Perhaps both."

Gan left an Adeline went get Harry in the Dining Hall. He was by himself and sitting with his head buried in his arms on the table.

"Harry?"

He looked up.

"They voted."

"Am I going home?"

"No. It takes seven and two voted against."

"I didn't take it," he said.

"I can understand why Professor Snape might think you took it, but can you give me some more insight into it?"

Harry bit his lip and then looked away. "No maam."

"You can't, or won't?"

"Both."

She sighed and then patted him on the arm. "Ok, you can return to your cabin."

"All of my notes were in the notebook. Can I have my things back?"

"Are they really yours?"

"Yes. Someone gave them to me."

"Someone, but you won't say who?"

He nodded.

"I'll send them up to your cabin. They should be on your desk by the time you get there."

"Thank you," he said, standing up.

As he made his way back to his cabin, feeling ready collapse into his bed and sleep for weeks, Harry was thankful that he had at least two professors on his side. He was sure Adeline was one of them, and thought the other might be Gan, but couldn't be certain about that.

When he got back to his room and his eyes fell on to his bare mattress, he remembered that Snape had taken his blanket. Well, it wouldn't do any good to tell anybody about it would it? It would just prove whatever point Snape had tried to make against him. It was the same reason he couldn't say that Draco had given him the supplies, and the same reason he couldn't divulge more information about why Snape was so against him. With so many teachers on Snape's side, no one would ever take Harry's word for it.

He let his body fall onto the mattress and lay awake for hours thinking about it all. He woke several times in the night, shivering and wishing for something warm to cover himself with.