Harry did several more patrols with Aoife and William, and the conversation remained civil. William never brought Cedric up, and Harry was glad for it. He only wished things would remain civil with all of the Hufflepuffs once the students returned to the castle the evening of January 5th. Harry wasn't looking forward to the rest of the students returning, but he was looking forward to having Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins, and Neville back. He still had to give Neville his gift, which was a big jar of enhanced growing medium he'd infused with a potion Professor Sprout had suggested he brew. Neville could use it in any herbology project where he needed good dirt to start off a new plant.

Severus didn't call Harry in to talk to him or brew at all for the rest of the break, though Harry did see him at meals. He could have no idea that Severus was doing his best to give him some space after the awful start to the holidays he had endured.

Severus had never intended on taking the boy to one of the Christmas gatherings in the woods. He himself hadn't been to one in more than five years because he was frequently busy with school business, or content to just have some peace and quiet for the holidays with most students gone home to their families.

Knowing that the boy had fully expected to be miserable for Christmas however once he'd been told he'd be going home to his relatives, Severus had short notice in which to plan anything at all for him so that his Christmas wasn't spent alone and feeling depressed. Getting the boy to a potions gathering in the woods was easy enough. There were several gatherings he knew of that happened every year and had been to. He'd chosen a gathering in the woods rather than in the mountains or on the coast because he thought it would be warmer and more sheltered from the wind. With Christmas Eve taken care of, he only had Christmas to worry about.

Harry was his apprentice, and while Severus knew things about him, he really didn't know Harry well enough to plan things like Christmas for him. What he did know about the boy was who his friends were, and he knew the Weasleys had been petitioning the Headmaster for some time to have Harry for the summer and Christmas holidays. He was only thankful that Molly and Arthur had responded quickly, and that Arthur had been willing to come get Harry and his things. Severus was still recovering from overusing his core and didn't want to tax his core again by apparating Harry to the potions gathering and then all the way to the south to Ottery St. Catchpole.

Severus had been able to tell from the grateful look in the child's eyes that he had made the right decision in getting him to the Weasleys for Christmas. When he returned from the Burrow, he seemed lighter than he had before and appeared in a better mood in the days that followed as well. If only he could help to keep things that way as the new term started. Severus had been focused on getting the boy's grades up, providing clothes and supplies for him, and keeping him out of trouble, particularly in regards to Umbridge. Now he had an entirely different set of things he had to keep in mind to work around when it came to what Harry needed.

Aside from the obvious injuries he'd already seen since Harry had become his apprentice that summer, and Harry's belief that he would be struck if in trouble, Severus didn't know what the boy had endured at the hands of his relatives. He'd indicated that he might not have been fed three full meals a day and that his basic needs hadn't been taken care of, but Severus couldn't be sure the boy hadn't endured worse, and Harry didn't seem willing to talk to him about it. The boy might never be willing to talk to him about it, which would make things more difficult for Severus in the long run. The boy didn't trust adults, or the very least he didn't trust Severus, which meant he wouldn't, or couldn't tell Severus what he needed.

Severus sighed as he sat in his living room drinking a cup of hot tea. The students had returned on the train earlier that evening and he had watched from the staff table as Harry had greeted his friends happily and sat chatting with them at Gryffindor table. He wondered if any of the boy's friends knew what he had been through, and wished he could ask Harry if he'd told them. He could ask, but knew Harry wouldn't tell him.

Getting the child through his first apprenticeship exams seemed like such a minor concern now that his focus had shifted. This apprenticeship was no longer about keeping him out of trouble and getting him through the exams, but keeping him safe and away from his relatives. Of course that meant Harry would have to pass his exams so he could take a second apprenticeship with Severus to get him through until his 17th birthday, but still, Severus had bigger concerns at the moment.

* * *

"I'm glad we have another full day off before classes," Ron said Sunday morning. They'd stayed up talking as late as they were allowed the evening before, before Harry had to leave the common room and return to his quarters so he could get in before curfew.

"Yeah, me too," Harry told him. Lunch was in an hour and Harry was determined not to study for the rest of the day but to spend time with his friends. He was thinking of going out to greenhouse five with Neville to show him where the mushrooms had been moved, but Neville had been visiting with Luna all day in the library and Harry wasn't keen on going into the library and raising Umbridge's ire.

"What's taking Hermione so long?" Ron complained as they waited on the steps leading up to the first floor in the Entrance Hall.

Harry shrugged. She'd gone to the Prefects room with the Head Boy to see if she could change her patrol times on the schedule for the next week.

"She could have just waited until the meeting later this week," Ron grouched. She'd already been gone for ten minutes and Ron felt like they were wasting time that could be spent playing chess in front of the fire in the common room.

A few Slytherins came down the stairs and turned to go into the dungeons, passing Snape as he came out of the dungeon stairwell. He stopped to talk to a Ravenclaw third year that had been lingering in the Entrance Hall, but looked up along with Ron and Harry when the oak front doors opened and admitted Amos Diggory. Harry froze, just as he'd done in the apothecary two weeks before.

He stamped the snow off his feet, and then looked up and around the Entrance Hall, eyes looking sad. "Professor," he greeted Severus. "I owled the Headmaster last night and was given permission to speak to the Hufflepuffs."

Snape nodded but didn't say anything, apparently giving his permission for Mr. Diggory to continue into the castle. Mr. Diggory didn't move for the Hufflepuff hallway off of the Entrance Hall immediately though, because his eyes had fallen on Harry. He walked up to him and Ron and said, "Harry. I'd like you to come with me."

Harry looked down at his shoes. He wanted to say no. He didn't want to go with him down the Hufflepuff corridor. He still felt like he didn't have a right to tell him no though. He had to do whatever Cedric's father wanted.

Harry felt Ron press up against his side then and he startled, looking back up. His friend was giving him a look that said he was right there with him. Harry gave a nod to Mr. Diggory and followed him, but Ron was stopped by Snape.

"Stay put Mr. Weasley," Snape said. Harry looked back and found Ron scowling at Snape, but had to turn to see where he was going again as he followed Mr. Diggory down the Hufflepuff corridor. They didn't go immediately to Hufflepuff house, and instead passed it and went to the entrance to Professor Sprout's office, which was right next to her quarters. Aside from patrolling, Harry had never had cause to be down this far.

Amos knocked on her door and she opened it immediately. It seemed she had been waiting for him.

"Amos," she said, looking sad. "Are you ready?"

"Yes. I hope it's ok that I've brought Harry along with me."

"Of course. As a Prefect he can enter Hufflepuff anyway as long as he's with me." She gave Harry the same sad look she'd given Amos, but Harry averted his eyes again and followed them down the corridor to the large wooden door that led into Hufflepuff common room.

Harry was rather curious about what the common rooms of other houses looked like, but kept his eyes down and obscured by his hair as they entered the common room. There were murmurs about his presence as well as about Cedric's father as soon as they stepped inside.

"Gather everyone out of the dorms please," Sprout told the students, and some of them rose to get their missing housemates. Even though it was Sunday, it seemed to Harry that all of Hufflepuff was present and he wondered if Sprout had told them to be here at this time since Cedric's father had made plans to be here. Harry didn't know what the man was doing here, but knew it must have to do with Cedric. He couldn't imagine that Amos was here for him, and still didn't believe it later after it was all over.

Once the last remaining students had come out of the dorms, Professor Sprout cleared her throat and said, "You will be polite and respectful to our guest. Mr. Diggory has taken his time to come and speak to you all and I expect you to show him the same respect you'd give to any Hufflepuff, including that which you had given to Cedric."

Every student was silent, and Harry clenched his eyes shut, glad that his hair had grown long enough to completely obscure them.

"Yes, well," Mr. Diggory cleared his throat, voice quiet as he stood beside Harry and Professor Sprout. "I know how much Cedric meant to all of you. I know because I know what he meant to me. He often wrote home about his friends here. He really loved being a Hufflepuff, and he really loved being a Prefect. He was so excited to bring honor to Hufflepuff house when he was chosen as a Tri-Wizard champion." Harry squeezed his eyes shut tighter when Amos' voice hitched. He took a deep breath and continued on though.

"One of the reasons Cedric was so proud to be a Hufflepuff was because of what this house stands for. He could have been in Ravenclaw... the hat wanted to put him there you know. But he chose Hufflepuff, because he had heard how friendly and hard working this house was... how honest. Those were qualities he wanted to embody. He strove to be friendly to everyone, even those from other houses. I'm sure many of you have friends from other houses. I know as a Prefect he tried hard to show you every day what he thought Hufflepuff's values were... to lead you by example."

There were murmurs of agreement from several students sitting around the common room.

Amos took a deep breath, fidgeting with the hat in his hands. "I'm very sorry to say to you today that Cedric would be disappointed with this house. If he had come to school as a first year this year, I don't think he would have chosen Hufflepuff if he knew what it had come to stand for."

Harry heard sharp intakes of breath from around the room. The air felt thick and Harry felt too warm. He wanted to bolt, and he might have if it wasn't Cedric's father here talking.

"But why?" a girl asked. She sounded young and on the verge of tears.

Amos motioned with his hand toward Harry. Harry could only see a little from under his hair as he looked at the floor, frozen to the spot.

"This year this house doesn't seem to stand for friendliness or honesty. It has not been open to others. If he had come as a first year student and heard any of the things you've said to Harry this year, he would have chosen to go to a different house and never looked back. This isn't the house he left or tried to set an example for, because none of you have followed his example. Harry was his friend. During the tournament he wrote home frequently about him. He was upset on Harry's behalf that he was being forced to participate in the tournament. Harry helped Cedric with the tournament when he could, and in return Cedric helped Harry. I recall him writing home about badges that were floating around the school saying bad things about Harry during the tournament, and how upset he was about them. He asked some of you to stop wearing those badges, didn't he?" He didn't wait for a response. "Now he's gone. Now he's gone and he's not here to lead you by example anymore, and you haven't stepped up to follow the example he left for you. He never would have blamed Harry for his death. If he was here today instead of me, this is exactly what he would tell you. Harry is no more responsible for Cedric's death than any of you are. There was nothing he could have done to stop a fully trained adult from casting the killing curse. Harry has been a victim more than once to this evil man, and now Cedric has too. That misery," it sounded as though Amos might be crying now, but Harry couldn't tell. "The misery of that night didn't end that night for Harry, like it did for Cedric, because Harry had to come back to school to face all of you. He had to hear you calling him a murderer in the hallways every day, and in classes. This is not the Hufflepuff house Cedric loved."

Harry looked up from the floor and through his hair in awe at Cedric's father. He was every bit like Cedric had been. It pained him to be here talking to Cedric's friends and housemates, but he was here for Harry because Harry needed him to be. Harry hadn't had to ask, but here he was. Looking at Amos right now was like having Cedric in front of him again, giving him clues about the mermaid egg or trying to give him a pep-talk before facing off with a dragon. Harry didn't realize that his eyes were wet until the tears had already rolled down his cheeks. Amos looked down at him and then put his arm around Harry and left, walking Harry out of Hufflepuff and back into the corridor. Harry was surprised to find that the door leading into Hufflepuff had been open the entire time and that Snape was standing just outside watching and listening. The door closed behind them as they went into the corridor and Amos put both hands on Harry's shoulders again.

"I'm sorry Harry, for what they've been doing. You're a good boy. I'm glad you were Cedric's friend." Eyes wet and looking like he couldn't speak anymore, Amos left, heading back toward the Great Hall. Harry was too choked up to speak and startled when Severus put a hand on his shoulder from behind him to get him moving.

Ron was no longer in the Entrance Hall when they passed through on their way down to the dungeons. Severus took him into his office and closed and warded the door against eavesdropping.

After they'd both had a seat and several moments of silence had passed between them, Severus said, "I am surprised he came to the castle to speak to them. I did not know he was aware of what had been going on."

Harry cleared his throat. He'd already wiped his eyes on his sleeve several times on the way down there. "He was at the apothecary the other day."

"When?"

Harry mumbled something that sounded like, "Potion you needed," and Severus gave a slow nod. Harry had come back from the apothecary on Camden Alley with red eyes. Now Severus had an inkling as to why. He was glad Amos had come to talk to the Hufflepuffs to try to put a stop to their atrocious behavior as the talk they'd been given by Pomona hadn't worked, but he wished Harry hadn't been dragged into it. The child's emotions already seemed to be all over the place due to his issues at home and his injuries. Dragging him into the middle of the issue with the Hufflepuffs once again seemed unkind. But as Severus watched Harry sitting in his office, he seemed more pensive than upset now that he'd been given some time to calm down.

"When I ran into him on Camden Alley," Harry paused, working over how to say what he wanted to, "that was the first time anyone told me it wasn't my fault. I didn't believe him."

"Do you believe him now?"

Harry shrugged.

Severus was going to ask why Harry thought it was his fault, but knowing the things the Hufflepuffs had been saying to him since September, he didn't need to. Harry decided to tell him anyway.

"We got to the Tri-Wizard cup at the same time. I told him we should take it together. He didn't want to. He wanted me to take it because I had saved him from one of the obstacles in the maze and if I hadn't I would have gotten there first. I insisted."

Severus sighed and gave Harry a hard look. The boy was looking down and playing with the hem of his shirt.

"If he had gotten to the cup first, he would have still ended up in the graveyard alone and facing down Voldemort."

Harry looked up at him and looked startled. "I didn't- I didn't think of it that way."

"Whoever was first would have been in that graveyard. We know Barty Crouch Junior was manipulating contestants in the maze so you could get there first, but he wasn't able to get to Cedric in time to knock him out of the competition."

"But still, if I'd been faster... If I had gotten there first..." Harry's voice seemed to have grown tight again as he trailed away.

"Then it is possible someone still would have died that night Potter. You, someone else, it would have been someone. If you had gone alone and he had killed you, he wouldn't have stopped there. He would have continued on into the Muggle world to kill as many people as he could, and then he would have moved on to Diagon Alley, or Hogsmeade, or Camden Alley. He's a murderer. He is the one responsible for his actions. It is amazing that you made it out alive and were able to bring Cedric back to Hogwarts."

"He helped me."

Severus froze. He remembered the boy saying something like this at the end of the tournament, but he'd been babbling and crying and difficult to understand.

"Our wands met, when we were dueling, and Cedric, an old man, and my parents came out of the stream of light between the two wands. Cedric asked me to take his body back to his parents, and then the four of them flew at Voldemort so I could get away and get to Cedric and the cup."

Severus didn't know what to say. He'd seen Lily and James? Magic had ways of doing things one would think impossible. He wondered what the boy's parents had said to him, but didn't think he could ask. It was personal, and private, and he had no right to know, especially when he was in part responsible for their deaths. Severus knew how Harry felt to feel responsible. The difference was there was nothing Harry could have done to save Cedric. Severus could have done a lot differently in his youth that could have saved Lily and James.

"Are you ok sir?" Harry asked, and Severus' eyes came up to meet his.

He cleared his throat. "Yes. Are you?" he countered.

Harry shrugged. "Do you think what Mr. Diggory said will make them stop?"

"I should hope so. Having your deceased friend's father have to come to chastise you would leave a lasting impression, don't you think?"

Harry nodded. He'd certainly left an impression on Harry.

* * *

The Hufflepuffs were all quiet around Harry for the next week. They averted their eyes when he passed in the halls, and the whispers and shouts that had once followed him had stopped. It was unnerving but a relief at the same time. It was a full week after the visit from Amos when one of the Hufflepuffs who had been saying nasty things to him all term came up to him in the corridor and said quietly, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the things I've been saying. It's not true, and I didn't know. I should never have said those things to you."

Harry didn't know how to respond to her, so he didn't. In the days that followed that apology, there were more from other students. First years and fifth years and seventh years. Harry thought he'd been apologized out by the end of the second week of the term and wanted them to stop. He just wanted to go about his business and focus on studying for the Transfiguration OWL that he'd begun to worry about now that OWL's were less than six months away. If he could study for it now then he wouldn't have to stress out about it as it grew closer and closer.

Ron wasn't stressed out about the Potions OWL yet but Hermione had practically shut herself away in her dorm room for the last week every night to study, and was quiet during classes throughout the day, working so hard to take notes that she looked like she might strain something.

Aside from the Hufflepuffs and Harry's anxiety over not knowing everything he needed to for the Transfiguration OWL, January passed in relative peace. It was at the first Prefect's meeting of February when he started to grow uneasy again.

"It's a quill," Darius said, standing at the front of the Prefect's meeting room with the Head Girl. "We don't know exactly what kind of magic it is, but Professor Umbridge is making students do lines with a quill that's cutting open whatever hand they write with. That's how she's hurting students."

There were upset and angry murmurs from around the room, and Harry heard Draco curse from his spot next to Pansy.

"Does the Headmaster know?" a Ravenclaw seventh year asked angrily. She looked ready to hit someone.

"He knows. All the teachers do. We took the information to them right away. A first year Hufflepuff got his hand sliced up. Madam Pomfrey was able to heal the cuts pretty quick. Luckily the boy only had five lines."

"He's not the only one," Pansy said. "There was a second year girl in Slytherin too. She wouldn't tell us what happened. Her hand was all red but it wasn't cut. It looked like she had scratched words into the back of her hand."

"You're certain it was from detention with Professor Umbridge?" Aoife asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We told Professor Snape," Draco said. "We were worried she might have done it to herself. But yeah, she said she had detention and it happened there."

Several students said unfriendly things about Umbridge then, and others made noises of outrage.

"They're working behind the scenes to get her canned," Darius said. "They're taking notes on every move she makes, every crazy rule she comes up with that she's making us all follow. They've got a whole file on how she's harassed Potter."

Several sets of eyes flickered to Harry again, but he did his best to ignore them. He was used to being stared at.

"Well what do we do in the meantime?" Hannah Abbot, one of the fifth year Hufflepuff Prefects asked.

"We've already been keeping kids in our house out of trouble," a Ravenclaw Prefect said. "We've been keeping them in after dinner as much as we can unless they have Quidditch practice or a study group."

People continued to talk in low voices to each other as the Head Boy and Girl stood at the front of the room, uncertain what more they could do.

"I can break it," Harry said, and the room quieted. He didn't often speak up at these meetings because he still felt out of place there. This was only the start of his third month as a Prefect and he'd only just started patrolling with others since he didn't have to be mentored by Hermione anymore. He'd patrolled a few times with Ron, and once or twice with kids from other houses. He was even on the schedule for later in the month to patrol with Draco, though Harry wasn't sure how that was going to go.

All eyes were on him again, but he locked eyes with Darius at the front of the room.

"What do you mean break it?" Darius asked.

"I'll get detention and break the quill. Unless she has another one, that should fix the issue until she gets canned. Seems like a dark object to me. Those are hard to come by or create, aren't they?"

"It's too dangerous," Aoife told him, looking wary. "Who knows what else she has to hurt you with. You could lose your Prefect's badge or end up in detention with her for the rest of the year."

Harry nodded. Those possibilities had crossed his mind.

"Yeah, but I have a protection the rest of you don't have."

"Yeah, what's that?" a seventh year Slytherin boy asked snidely.

"The apprenticeship," Hermione said, though her face was in her hand as though she thought this was a terrible idea. She said so a moment later. "You can't count on that Harry. She made that rule about overseeing all detentions herself, even yours. Professor Snape can't get you out of detentions if you make her mad."

"No," Harry said, "but he can pull me out of school altogether if she decides to whip me or something."

"Nah mate," Ron said, "better not. Don't want to lose you for the rest of the year." Harry rarely ever heard Ron sound wary like he was now. No one seemed to think it was a good idea but Harry.

After a long silence Draco said from across the room, "What's your plan Potter?"

Harry met his eyes and said, "She's overseeing all detentions now. I'll do something to get myself in detention. It'll have to be something big or I'll just lose points... I'll go into the Defense section of the library and try to check out books or something. That's why I got detention from her earlier this year. Then when she assigns me to write lines, I'll ‘accidentally' snap the quill."

"You're assuming she'll make you do lines," Aoife said.

"Or that you can snap the quill," Hermione said. "If it's a dark object Harry you have no idea what kind of magic is on it. You could get cursed for snapping it in half."

William, the sixth year Hufflepuff Harry had been patrolling with over the holidays spoke up then and said, "There are potions to protect from curses, aren't there? You could soak your hand in one before going to detention."

"Still," Aoife pleaded from the front of the room. "He has no idea if he even can snap the quill, and there's too much risk to him. Worst case scenario she uses some other device to hurt him or he has to leave the school!" It was the first time Harry had ever heard her raise her voice. Others were looking at her as well.

"But everyone will be safe from the quill, at least for a while," Harry said.

"No," Aoife said. That seemed to be the end of Harry's plans, but then Darius, who had been quiet throughout the discussion spoke up.

He made eye contact with Harry and said, "Whatever you are going to do, or not going to do, none of us heard any of it." He looked around the room at the rest of the Prefects and met eyes with each one of them.

"Darius," Aoife pleaded, and he turned to look at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about Aoife, sorry. All we've discussed here tonight is keeping students out of trouble, and the schedule for patrols for this month."

"And Potter's death wish," Draco snorted, but Darius glared at him until he closed his mouth and the smirk left his face. "Right, and nothing. I haven't heard anything. Patrols, keeping kids in the common room..." he trailed away and with an eye roll used his hands to indicate that the list went on.

"Unless there's anything else?" Darius asked, but no one had anything and he dismissed them from the meeting. Harry noted Aoife was glaring hard at Darius and that their discussion wasn't over yet.

"You two," Aoife snapped, pointing at Ron and Hermione as they attempted to leave with Harry. "Talk some sense into him!"

"Right," Ron said, and they left. "Remind me not to mess with her," Ron said of Aoife. "She's scary when she's angry."

Harry's cheeks turned red and Hermione frowned at him. Ron looked at him and laughed when he saw Harry's face. "Unless that's not what you were thinking," Ron said.

Harry's ears turned red too and Hermione cleared her throat. "Pretty," Harry mumbled. Ron laughed again.

Back in the common room that evening in a private nook used by older students to study, Hermione looked at Harry and said, "You're doing this aren't you." It wasn't a question. They'd been through too much together for Hermione to believe she could stop him once he'd set his mind to something like this.

"She's slicing kids hands open."

"It's still a bad idea," Ron said. "You're going to get hurt or I'm going to end up without my best friend for the rest of the term. Ginny will never speak to me again if I let you get expelled or something."

Harry frowned. "Why does everyone keep mentioning Ginny like that?" He looked up at Ron and Hermione's faces in turn. They were both raising their brows at him like they expected him to understand something.

"Boys are so hopeless," Hermione said, as though she had lost hope in Harry.

"If I'm so hopeless couldn't you just give me a hint then?"

"How many hints do you need that a girl likes you mate?" Ron scoffed. "You said Aoife was pretty, so I know you're not into boys."

Harry heart started racing. "Ginny-" he lowed his voice. "Ginny likes me?" he whispered.

"Ding ding, we have a winner," Ron laughed.

"Harry," Hermione said, as though she couldn't believe him. "She's had a major crush on you since before she even came to school. How could you not know?"

"What? She barely speaks to me! I barely ever see her! What do you mean she likes me?" All of this was said in a whispered rush as Harry's brain tried to catch up with the information he'd been given.

"She's capable of liking you and being too intimidated to talk much to you at the same time," Hermione said.

"No, don't lump her in that category," Ron said, "you'll make her mad. She's not intimidated."

"Then what?" Harry asked.

"I think she's just kind of been waiting for you to notice her and like her. She doesn't want to ask you first."

Harry put his hands out in front of him to stop his friends from talking for a moment so he could just process this.

"You knew this whole time and didn't say anything," he accused Hermione, and then to Ron he said, "and you're ok with this?"

"Yeah why not?"

"Isn't it... weird, if I liked my best friend's sister?"

"I dunno," Ron needled him. "Do you like her?"

His face heated up in the same way it had outside the Prefect's room earlier that evening. "Yeah, a bit," he said. He'd tried not to think about Ginny or how pretty her hair and face, and freckles were because he'd thought Ron wouldn't approve.

"Then I'm going to have to pound your face in, sorry mate," Ron said, not sounding angry at all. Harry stared at him until Ron laughed. Hermione smiled too and put her hand up in front of her mouth to hide her laugh. "C'mon, just don't get expelled and you'll have a chance to say something to her. Then she can finally stop talking to mum about it over breaks from school and my ears can stop bleeding from having to listen about you all the time. ‘Harry's so cute when he's thinking through a problem,'" Ron mimicked a high girlish voice.

"Shh," Harry said, urging him to keep his voice down.

Hermione looked at her watch and said, "Harry, you'd better go, there's only a few minutes until curfew."

Harry ignored her and pulled out his Transfiguration notes. "Don't care."

"But Harry-"

He gave her a pointed look. "I'm a bad boy looking for detention. That means I have to do something worth getting detention. I might as well stay in the common room later than I'm supposed to and get some studying done. Ron promised me he'd get me through the Transfiguration OWL."

"It's too early for that," Ron said.

"Ronald, if you put all of your studying off until the end of the year you're not going to pass any of your OWLs. They could take your Prefect badge away!" Hermione scolded. Harry grinned at the both of them. He missed living in Gryffindor and he missed moments like this.

It was after eleven when Harry left to go back to his quarters, but he didn't run into Umbridge, Filch, or anyone else that night. It was too bad. He really didn't want to think up new ways to get detention.

* * *

It was three more days before he'd gotten detention. Two more students had been reported as having hand injuries after detention with Umbridge, and Harry had been upping his bad behavior until it really couldn't be ignored. Staying out late hadn't done anything except give Harry more time with his friends. He'd tried cursing outside of Umbridge's classroom and office, but she hadn't heard him or wasn't around when he'd done it.

Filch had run him out of the Defense section of the library twice, but Umbridge had never shown up and Harry hadn't heard about detention for his efforts. He carried around one of Snape's loaned defense books in his bag hoping she'd search him, but she had been so busy overseeing the detentions of other students that Harry's bag hadn't been searched in almost a week. What would he have to do to get detention?

The idea came to him in Defense Wednesday morning when he caught Draco and Pansy watching him pointedly from across the aisle. The last student who had gotten their hand sliced open was a Slytherin third year the evening before. All of the Prefects, despite being silent about it, seemed to be waiting for Harry to make his move. But what could he do?

A sly smile came over his face as he looked away from Draco and stared at the back of Umbridge's head as she wrote something on the chalkboard. He should have thought of it sooner. It was something Draco had done to him half a dozen times over the years, though it hadn't happened this year yet.

From their table at the back of the classroom by the door, Ron frowned as Harry ripped a piece of parchment off of his notes and began to ball it up. He stuck it in his mouth and got it good and wet. Hermione was watching now too as he rolled the page of notes up into a straw and pulled the wet wad of paper out of his mouth.

"Harry, no!" Hermione whispered to him frantically, but he took satisfaction in what he was doing. He wedged the wet wad of paper into the end of the straw he'd made and then stuck his wand in the other end and sent a blast of air through the paper tube. The spit wad flew out of the end of the tube and right at Umbridge, hitting her in the back of the head and sticking in her hair.

She reached around to the back of her hair and pulled the wad of paper, slimy with Harry's saliva out of her hair and spun around, face contorted in anger. "Who did this!?" she shouted, holding the disgusting spit wad out. The stunned class burst out in giggles, and Harry laughed the hardest of all, putting his face and hands down on his desk.

"Mr. Potter!" she shouted, appalled. "I will not tolerate this disgusting act of disrespect! Get out of my classroom this instant! You have detention tonight in my office at five sharp!"

Harry kept laughing as he gathered his notebook and pen into his book and grabbed his bag.

"Out! OUT!" she screeched. As he left, still laughing, the door slammed behind him, shutting out the sounds of the giggles of his classmates.

There was still an hour of class left since it was double Defense, and having never been kicked out of class before, Harry didn't know what he was supposed to do with himself. He ended up wandering down the Charms and then the Transfiguration corridor. Professor McGonagall's classroom door was open as she taught a group of seventh years, including the Head Boy and Girl, and she caught sight of Harry walking by.

"Mr. Potter?" she called out, and Harry paused. She came to the open door and asked hurriedly but quietly, "What are you doing in the corridor? What class are you supposed to be in?"

"Defense," Harry said.

"What happened? Why aren't you there?"

"I'm not skipping," he told her seriously. Now that he thought about it, just skipping Umbridge's class seemed the obvious way to earn an easy detention from her. "I was thrown out."

"Thrown out?" she asked, eyebrows raised and face growing stern. "Dare I ask why?"

"I have detention later maam. It's probably best that you don't know what I did to earn it."

She took a deep breath to steady herself and then said, "You and I will be having words later Mr. Potter, you can be assured of that. Go to your quarters or the common room until your next class. You're not to wander the halls after the disgrace of being removed from a classroom!"

Her stern look sent him on his way back towards his quarters. He hadn't counted on getting chastised by a teacher he cared about. Expelled, possibly. Getting his hand sliced up or cursed, definitely. But being chastised by his Head of House was embarrassing. He really hoped she didn't find out what he'd done to earn this detention. At least he didn't have to suffer her disappointed looks through Transfiguration as he didn't have that until tomorrow. The extra hours he'd spent in the common room that week meant extra studying with Ron, who had fully prepared him for the Transfiguration test tomorrow. At least he wouldn't give her another reason to be upset with him.

After forty five minutes in his quarters, Harry headed down to the dungeons for potions class.

"I can't believe you did that," Hermione said, affronted by the mere thought of shooting a spit wad at a teacher, even Umbridge.

"It worked," Harry told her.

"That was epic," Ron said, but at a look from Hermione he cleared his throat and said in a deeper voice, "and very very wrong. I'm so disappointed in you."

"Don't do that for us," Dean told Ron. "We agree with you, it was epic."

"It was outrageous," Hermione said. She considered most teachers to be above reproach and despite Umbridge's bad behavior that year couldn't fathom doing such a thing to any staff member.

"Outrageously epic," Dean corrected. "I'm surprised you did it, but can't say I wasn't entertained."

"He's lucky he didn't get the entire class detention," Hermione snapped angrily. "She was very upset with the class for laughing once you'd left."

"Did anyone else get detention?" Harry asked.

"No. Ron and Draco stood up at the same time and chastised the class for laughing."

"I think that's what saved us," Neville said. "She didn't seem to notice that they had been laughing too."

They went through the rest of their day and Harry only hoped that Umbridge was too excited to get him into detention after trying so hard to punish him all year to tell Snape that Harry was in trouble. He wanted to avoid Snape until the quill was broken, that was if he could break it.

Instead of heading to the Great Hall for dinner after his last class, Harry went to Umbridge's office and waited for five pm to roll around. She was waiting for him. Her anger had calmed some, and she gave him a wary look mixed with excitement when she opened her office door to let him in at five on the dot.

"Mr. Potter," she greeted him.

"Professor."

She shut the door and pointed to the student desk, and Harry tried not to let his excitement show at the piece of parchment and black quill he saw sitting there waiting for him.

"After becoming a Prefect... after all you've done to behave yourself last term, it surprises me that you would do something so crass as to throw spit at a teacher. That is assault Mr. Potter."

Harry tried to look contrite. He didn't want her to know that he wanted to be here. "I'm very sorry professor."

"Yes well I'm afraid an apology is not enough to get you out of detention. I wish to know why you did what you did."

Harry hadn't thought of what to tell her and scrambled to find a reasonable answer when there couldn't be for such an offense. "I've been a little stressed. I realize that wasn't a great way to deal with it when you hadn't done anything to me."

"Even if I had done something to you it would not have been acceptable. Sit down Mr. Potter. You'll be doing lines this evening. Forty of them."

Harry sat down at the student desk and picked up the quill. "There's no ink," he said.

"It's a very special quill Mr. Potter. You won't need any ink."

"What should I write?"

"What do you think you should write?" she dared him. He might normally have tried to come up with a short sentence so he could get done with detention more quickly, but wasn't concerned with that now.

"I'm sorry I sent a spit wad at a professor?"

"How about, I will not disrespect my betters."

"Yes maam."

He picked up the quill and examined it for a moment before putting quill to paper and writing experimentally, ‘I will not.' He sucked in a breath as the quill somehow cut across the back of his hand and the words appeared there. He looked up at her and saw that she was smiling, head tilted to the side a little.

"Yes, as I said Mr. Potter, this is a special quill, meant to help errant children learn their lessons as quickly as possible. I dare say after forty lines you will have learned not to repeat your performance today in class."

"Yes maam," Harry grumbled. He needed to break the damn thing as quickly as possible. He pressed the quill down hard against the page trying to break the nib as he wrote, ‘disrespect my betters.'

He looked up at her to see if she was still watching. She was. The words appeared in the back of his hand and then disappeared. He was sickened to find that the ‘ink' he was writing with was his own blood. Pressing harder down on the quill hadn't done a thing to it. It had however cut the words deeper into the back of his hand than before.

‘I will not disrespect my betters,' he wrote hurriedly, pressing hard and fast and trying to tilt the quill to the side. He resisted the urge to hiss again as the words carved into his right hand and disappeared, the stinging going with it.

Just pretending to snap the quill as he wrote wasn't going to do it. He was going to have to use both hands to break it in half.

"Yes Mr. Potter?" she asked when he hadn't written a third line. He looked up, wondering what she wanted now. "You had something you wanted to say?"

"Interesting quill," Harry mumbled.

"Yes, quite. Sometimes the best teaching tools are. Continue. I have other things to do than to sit with you all evening while you write your lines. I'd like to make it to dinner before it finishes."

Harry quickly scrawled two more lines, trying hard to think, but it was difficult to think when his hand was stinging. Harry was used to pain from his relatives, but not like being cut. Hermione and Aoife had both been right, this had been stupid, and now he was going to have to deal with it while he figured out how to break this damn thing.

After the ninth line Umbridge sat down at her own desk and started shuffling through a stack of what looked like student essays. Good, Harry thought, hoping she'd stay occupied for a while and that her attention would be off of him.

‘I will not disrespect my betters.' He pulled the quill to himself and used both hands to try to snap it in two. It stayed solid and intact.

‘I will not disrespect my betters.' Harry used his left hand to pull his wand out under his desk and whispered as quietly as he could several spells he knew to make the quill more brittle so he could try to snap it again. It was no good.

‘I will not disrespect my betters.' He ran a series of countercurses.

‘I will not disrespect my betters.' Next he threw four or five counter hexes at it.

‘I will not disrespect my betters.' His blood pressure was rising as he began to sweat. He'd lost count of how many lines he'd done now, and the words weren't disappearing from his hand as quickly anymore.

‘I will not disrespect my betters.' He was out of ideas and out of sheer desperation he grabbed the quill at the midpoint and tried to write with it that way, pressing as hard as he could. SNAP.

"Mr. Potter!"

Harry startled, even as he sighed in relief, the broken quill lying in front of him on the desk, his blood still shining freshly on the parchment as well as on the back of his hand.

"Maam? I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was writing so hard."

She stood up and strode over to him and snatched the infernal broken quill off the desk to examine it. "This was a priceless family heirloom!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry," he stammered, pretending to be scared. "I didn't know."

"We'll see about that!" She startled him when her pudgy hand shot out and grabbed his upper arm, gripping him hard enough that he was sure there would be a bruise. She dragged him out of her office and down through the castle, fuming all the way. Dinner was still going in the Great Hall but she didn't take him in there. Harry noted that Darius, Ron and Draco were all in the Entrance Hall instead of eating dinner. Their eyes followed Harry as she dragged him along so quickly that he stumbled and barely caught himself as they turned for the dungeon stairwell.

She was taking him to Snape, and despite the fact that Harry knew he would be in very big trouble with the dark eyed man, he was glad that's where she was taking him at the same time. He was the only one who could make her let go of Harry's arm and potentially get him out of a series of detentions more horrific than the one he'd just been in. Even though he'd brought up the possibility of being able to leave the school for the rest of the year, he didn't want to and hoped Snape could find a way to keep him here.

At the door to Snape's office, she rapped hard three times and then the door opened on its own. Snape seemed to be expecting them. Maybe McGonagall had told him Harry was going to have detention. Of course she would given that the staff all knew Umbridge was mutilating student's hands.

"Yes?" he asked silkily as she dragged Harry into the office, hand still gripping his arm hard.

"This boy!" she said in such a rage she couldn't even finish her sentence. She made an attempt to take a breath so she could speak and said, "Your apprentice just broke a priceless family heirloom while in detention!"

"Did he now?" Severus asked. "What heirloom might I ask?"

"An old family quill."

"A quill you say? What was he doing with it?"

"Lines," she said, "for his atrocious behavior earlier this afternoon."

"Yes, I had heard he received a detention. What has he done to deserve it?" He was completely ignoring Harry at this point and Harry's face heated up as she told him that he'd sent a nasty spit wad into the back of her head while she wrote on the blackboard. Snape's eyes came around to Harry and there was anger in them, but he turned away from him and looked back at Umbridge again.

"Why was he doing lines with a priceless family heirloom?"

"It's a very sturdy quill," she said. "I find it to be excellent for doing lines."

"I see. I apologize both for his behavior in class and for the accidental breakage of your quill. If you will tell me the approximate cost of the quill, I will reimburse you so you can buy a similar one."

"Buy a-" she sputtered. "It's irreplaceable!"

"Then you do not want compensation?" Snape asked.

Harry heard her growl faintly beside him. "This was no accident! He broke it on purpose!"

"Potter," Snape said, not looking at him as his eyes were locked with Umbridge's. "Did you break her quill on purpose?"

"Of course he'll lie to you!" she said, angry and exasperated. Harry thought she was going to wear herself out at this pace.

"Why would he try to break it?" Severus asked.

"Because-" she paused. "He was upset to be doing lines."

"He has done lines before," Severus said. "Many times, I assure you. One of the reasons all of his detentions are assigned to me is because I know how to handle him and make sure his punishments sink in."

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to discern if there was any hidden meaning behind his words. She let go of Harry's arm, which was tingling and aching in equal measure.

"This was done on purpose."

Snape looked like he was thinking and then asked, "What made this quill so special that he should desire to break it? Was it encrusted with jewels?"

"No. He could not have broken it on accident however. It had many charms on it to prevent just such a thing! He must have been actively trying to break it with magic!"

"What sort of charms?"

She snapped her mouth shut, gave Harry an ugly glare, and then said, "I will leave all of his future detentions to you. As of now I'm giving him ten for his disrespect and his destruction of my personal property. I'll expect 25 Galleons as compensation." She smoothed the front of her blouse down, turned on her heel, and then strode out of the room.

Before he shut the door Snape stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING POTTER? SPITTING AT A TEACHER?" Then he slammed the door and Harry startled at the loud snap of it. He warded the door shut and gave Harry a dark look.

"Tell me Potter," he said in a low drawl, eyes narrowed. Yes, he was definitely upset, though the shouting had to have been for Umbridge's benefit before he'd slammed the door shut. "Just how many lines did you do with her blood quill before you broke it?"

Harry pulled his hand behind his back and said, "I lost count."

"Let me see," he said with a sigh, the anger seeming to drain out of him.

Harry held his right hand out. The words were angry and red and several of the letters had not closed up yet. Without another word Severus pulled a bowl from his desk drawer along with a bottle and poured a yellowing potion into the bowl. Harry recognized it as the Essence of Murtlap and witch hazel that Snape had used to help his burn scars heal earlier that year.

"Put your hand in the bowl and leave it there." After Harry had done as he'd been told Severus rubbed his forehead hard, turned sharply to look at Harry and said, "What were you thinking?"

"I'm embarrassed about the spit wad," Harry told him truthfully. It was gross and he knew it.

"Aside from that, which I can only assume you did to get yourself into detention given that you've been avoiding detention all year and have never done something so disgusting before."

Harry shrank back a little. He deserved that. He still didn't want to run across McGonagall after she found out what he'd done.

"She was mutilating students. I had to break the quill."

"It didn't occur to you to drop the quill into a curse neutralizing potion? You had to risk her wrath by snapping it in two?" he snapped.

Harry sighed and then winced as the murtlap began to work it's way down into the cuts on his hand. The skin on his hand was sending up air bubbles as the murtlap interacted with the wound.

"I didn't," Harry admitted.

"It did not occur to you to come to a teacher for help? To come to me?"

That hadn't occurred to Harry either. "The Head Boy and Girl said the staff knew what was going on and couldn't do anything about it until she gets fired."

"The Head Boy and Girl are involved in this?"

"Nope," Harry said, shaking his head. "Just me. I wouldn't drag anyone else into this."

"I believe that like I believe your friends didn't know about this. I hope," he paused to emphasize how unhappy he was with the events of that day, "that your friends had the good sense to try to stop you!"

"They didn't know," Harry maintained, and Severus sneered at him for the lie.

Snape left Harry alone for several minutes while he soaked his hand, and then lifted Harry's hand out of the bowl to examine it. After a moment he set it back in the bowl again. "Five more minutes. You must have done at least twenty lines."

"I did."

"I would say that is punishment enough for your ridiculously self-destructive behavior, but you've earned yourself ten more detentions to think about how your actions have consequences."

"Pretty good consequences," Harry said. "She only had the one quill. No one else has to suffer through detentions like that with her agian now."

"Do you not at least have the sense of self-preservation to pretend to be chastised?" Severus asked loudly, exasperated. It surprised Harry. He'd never seen the man look so... human, before. He'd seen him angry, but he'd never seen him lose composure like this.

Severus didn't wait for a response. When Harry's hand was done soaking in the murtlap and witch hazel and Severus was satisfied that the cuts were fully healed, he said, "The ten detentions you'll be serving will be real. You're to come here every evening after dinner for the next five nights to serve two hour detentions. You're also to be in your quarters, alone, all day on Saturday and Sunday aside from the potions lab Saturday that you will attend this week."

"Yes sir."

"Go to bed Potter."

Harry got up and made for the door, but before he could turn the handle Severus said, "For the record, after the seventh years in Transfiguration overheard that you got detention, the Head Girl told Professor McGonagall of your plans to break the quill. The staff are aware that every Prefect in the school, including your friends knew of your plans."

"They all told me not to. I said I wouldn't. They didn't know I was going to go through with it."

"Your need to protect your friends does not negate the need for you to tell me the truth Harry."

Harry paused, frozen with his hand on the doorknob. Had he called him Harry? Snape never did that. Harry turned back and looked at him. He was still looking particularly human, and Harry wasn't sure what had come over him. He couldn't have been worried, could he? He had been sitting in his office instead of at dinner and waiting with a bottle of essence of murtlap and witch hazel... had potentially been waiting for Harry and Umbridge to come storming down.

"Go to bed," Snape said, looking tired himself. For all that Harry thought Umbridge would tire herself out by ranting, it seemed it had been Snape who had grown exhausted. Not by Umbridge, but by Harry.

"Yes sir. I'm sorry." Harry opened the door and left, shutting it gently on his way out. He was given time to think about Snape and what had just happened for the space of a few minutes while he made his way up out of the dungeon, but as soon as he made the Entrance Hall he found Ron, Darius and Draco being told off by Professor McGonagall. Her eyes were drawn to Harry the moment he appeared, and he froze in place.

"Mr. Potter, my office, now. The three of you, back to your dorms."

Harry followed her up to her office where she chastised him for ten minutes, not about putting himself in danger, but about setting a bad example as a Prefect. From what little Harry had heard, it was the same lecture the boys had gotten in the Entrance Hall.

"I appreciate that you were trying to protect other students from being injured, however this was not the way to accomplish that. You are a Prefect now and must lead by example. More than a dozen of your classmates, most of which are not aware about the blood quill or your desire to get yourself into detention, saw you send a spit wad at the back of a Professor's head and then laugh about it. That is no way to conduct yourself as a Prefect at this school Mr. Potter."

When she was done chastizing him she took fifty points for his ‘poor display of leadership'. Only when she seemed to have run out of steam did she ask about his hand, about how many lines he had done, and finally, if the quill was broken.

"Yes maam."

"What has Severus decided about your punishment?"

"I have ten detentions assigned by Professor Umbridge. I'm not sure how many master Snape will assign me yet. He convinced her to let me do all the detentions with him."

"I see."

"I can't leave my room Saturday or Sunday this week either," Harry said, "except to go to the potions lab Saturday." Harry knew he deserved it but hated that he wouldn't get to see his friends at all that week aside from in classes. Detention in the evenings would take up all his free time, and he wasn't allowed to be with anybody on the weekend.

"I suppose that will have to suffice," she said.

Harry waited to be dismissed, not sure if she was done with him yet. She didn't seem to be angry anymore.

"Your father and mother both had moments like this," she said, looking down at her desk to straighten a stack of papers. "Not often, but they did. Your father was even called into the Headmaster's office the year he was Head Boy because of an incident he had taken part in." She looked up at him. "Things like this happen sometimes. See that this doesn't happen again Harry. This one incident doesn't have to define how you conduct yourself as a Prefect for the rest of the year."

"Maam? You're not taking my badge?"

"Did you expect me to?"

Harry frowned. He'd expected a lot of things, none of which had come to pass that evening. "I expected to be in such big trouble that Professor Snape was going to have to pull me out of school and send me away somewhere."

She gave him an odd look... was it amusement? "Where did you intend to go to school Mr. Potter if not Hogwarts?"

"West Ire?" Harry said. "The coven school on the Burn of Skaw?"

She snorted. "That's rich. I'll have to tell Albus that one. He'll get a kick out of it."

"Why?"

"It's an all girls school Potter," she said with a laugh.

"Oh," Harry said with a frown. "But someone said her brother went there?"

"Boys go to East Ire on a different island."

"Oh."

"Regardless, only children of those who live in the coven are granted entrance."

She sent Harry back to his quarters for the evening and he lay in bed staring at the ceiling of his canopy. The day had been painful and embarrassing in several ways. The thought that followed him into his sleep however was the way Snape had looked when Harry had left him in his office, and that he had called him by his name. Not Potter, but Harry.