He would be 15 in a few days, which meant he could find a job in the Muggle world. His plan was to apply at the swimming pool, the library, all of the takeaway places, and the two car washes in Little Whinging. He could walk to work every day if he had to, though he didn't want to. He was certain he could find a job somewhere, and now all he needed was his uncle's permission. Harry had chores to do every day, though the last two summers his uncle preferred him to be out of the house most days so he didn't cause his aunt any ‘stress'. She was stressed just by the sight of him, so he hoped his uncle would agree readily to letting him go into town to get a job.

His aunt and uncle had picked him up from the train station two days ago, and Harry had spent those two days trying to psych himself up into talking to his uncle and figuring out the right way to put his request. Feeling like he couldn't put it off any longer if he had any hopes of earning enough for school supplies by the end of the summer, Harry stared at himself in the bathroom mirror and took a deep breath before going downstairs.

Uncle Vernon was in the living room watching the telly. Aunt Petunia was out of the house getting Dudley new clothes for summer so now was the perfect time to talk to him. At least if he got throttled for asking, then Dudley wasn't there to watch and make fun of him while it was happening.

"Erm, Uncle Vernon?"

He grunted to acknowledge that he was listening. He hadn't snapped at Harry so that was a good sign that he wasn't already in a terrible mood.

"I was hoping I could get a job this summer... in town."

Vernon glanced up at him, wary. "A job? What for? If your chores aren't enough to keep you busy I can find more for you to do. The shed needs painting and the gutters need cleaning out."

Harry bit his lip. This was one of the scenarios he'd gone over in his mind for the last few days, that his uncle would deny him and just assign him more chores, but Harry had a plan for this.

"I'll pay rent."

His uncle looked back up at him, surprised. "Rent?"

"I'll pay you half of whatever my paycheck is."

The man grunted again, seeming amused. "What, a hundred dollars a couple times a month? You'll be making peanuts boy." He hadn't said no though, and seemed to be thinking, so Harry was hopeful. After a few moments Vernon said, "What do you need money for anyway? Saving up for something? If you're planning on getting a car, I won't have a piece of junk parked out in front of the house boy."

Harry looked down at his holey shoes for a few moments and then mumbled, "Clothes. School books and supplies."

"Your school pays for all of that," he said, turning back to the telly.

Harry didn't want to contradict him, and he didn't want to reveal that he had a vault at Gringotts, because it was a possibility that his uncle would be angry that Harry had had money for all these years, but he didn't see a way to lie and still convince him to let him get a job.

"They never paid for it," Harry said.

"That giant man took you to get school things, and you never asked us for money after that. Your aunt said they must be paying because you're an orphan."

"There was a little money left in my parents back account," Harry said, bracing himself for his uncle to start yelling. "It ran out last year. I didn't have enough to get books or school supplies and had to borrow from my friends all year."

He was frowning, but his face hadn't morphed into rage and turned red yet. Harry was holding his breath.

"What about your clothes boy? They didn't pay for those either?"

"I never get new clothes. My friend Ron's mum gives me his older brother's hand-me-downs."

Vernon's eyes scraped up and down Harry's body in a critical way, as though he was seeing Harry's clothes for the first time, and he scrunched up his nose like Harry was some sort of filthy animal. "You go to school like that? Wearing things your friends wore the year before?"

"I usually wear my school uniform." Harry really appreciated the clothes Mrs. Weasley gave him. She always mended them and never gave him anything that was too faded or had holes in it. They were the best clothes he had ever had. Far better than Dudley's old hand-me-downs his aunt used to make him wear before he started at Hogwarts. By the end of the school year the clothes were faded and worn though, and Harry was always in desperate need of new clothes by the end of summer again.

"Where are you going to work?" Vernon asked.

"The car wash, or the pool, or the library. Maybe takeaway."

"Peanuts," his uncle muttered. He looked Harry over again and then said, "Don't try to find a job at a restaurant. You won't make a pound. The library may pay better."

"So I can get a job then?"

"Yes. It will keep you out of your aunt's hair."

"Thank you," Harry said, relief washing over him. He turned to go back up to his room, but stopped, wondering if he should push his luck or not. "Could I get a ride to work every day?"

His uncle gave him a sharp look, telling Harry he was pushing his luck. "Just find a job first boy. I leave early enough in the morning to get into London as it is. I don't have time to drive you all over the place."

That was all Harry needed to hear. He had permission, even if it meant he did have to walk all the way into town and back each day.

The next day Harry left early in the morning before it got hot, wearing the nicest clothes he had, and went to both car wash places to ask for an application. The first one turned him down outright, but at the second one there was a teenager not much older than him that gave him an application and gave him tips on filling it out. He spent most of the day walking around town applying wherever he could, and ended at the library right before closing time.

The library had an open position as it turned out, and the librarian was helpful in giving Harry tips on going to an interview, going so far as to give Harry a mock interview. He had no idea that the person he was talking to was the one in charge of hiring.

"Well, I'd say you got yourself a job," the woman said.

"Maam?"

"You're polite, you're willing to work whatever hours we need you for, and I have faith that you'll work hard. Would you like the job?"

Harry stammered, trying to find the words to thank her. "Yes, yes maam! Thank you!"

"For now I'll have you start at noon and work until close at six."

"I start tomorrow?"

"If you would please."

Harry grinned all the way home, despite that it took him an hour to walk the distance in the heat. His aunt complained that he'd been out all day and hadn't done his chores yet, but his uncle only gave him an appraising look as he sat at the dining room table finishing his dinner and said, "Well?"

"I got hired at the library. Six pounds an hour, noon to six Monday to Friday and one to six on Sundays."

"About 700 pounds a month after taxes," his uncle said.

"350 pounds after I pay rent," Harry said. He thought he would have just enough for all the things he needed by the end of the summer if he could keep his head down and do all that was asked of him at work and home. If he fell behind on his chores he knew his aunt or uncle would make him give up his job.

His aunt stuck her nose up in the air and Dudley looked confused. "Harry's got a job?" he asked, food falling from his mouth.

"Finish your dinner Duddy darling. You don't need to worry about it," Petunia told him, trying to get the family's attention off of Harry.

Dudley frowned at his cousin and went back to his steak and kidney pie. Clearly his uncle hadn't relayed their agreement to Dudley or aunt Petunia.

Harry was about to go up to his room, not expecting anything to eat, but stopped at his uncle's words to aunt Petunia.

"Take him tomorrow to get summer clothes Pet."

"I just took Dudley to get clothing today. He has more than enough, don't you darling?"

"Take Harry."

Harry was just as surprised as aunt Petunia was, but she recovered quickly and scowled at Harry until Harry felt compelled to move for the door to the entryway and the stairs to go to his room. What was his uncle playing at? He didn't have any money to pay him yet, and wouldn't for at least two weeks. He flopped down on his bed to think about it but was interrupted by his cousin coming to his doorway a few moments later.

"What are you gonna buy?"

"Stuff for school."

"Like what?"

"Books, clothes."

"I don't know what you said to dad, but him and mum are downstairs having a row about buying you clothes tomorrow. He said something about clothes for school."

"I didn't say anything to him. I just asked if I could get a job."

Dudley shrugged and laughed. "Nice going Potter. He'll be pissed at you for sure if mum makes him sleep on the couch. You'll go to work all black and blue tomorrow."

Harry wanted to throw his cousin out of the room, but had never managed to make Dudley do anything he didn't want to do. Dudley questioned him for a few more moments, teased him about working at the library, because only nerds would work there, and finally grew bored and left on his own.

Harry waited to see if his uncle would stomp up the stairs to wallop him. It always happened at least once during the summer, usually several times, but it looked like it wasn't happening that day. His aunt was furious at him and refused to speak to him for the rest of the night, and the next morning as she drove him to the cheapest store in town. Harry had never been on a more awkward shopping trip in his life. His aunt held a few pairs of shorts up to him to see if they looked like they were the right size, furiously threw several t-shirts in random colors into the cart, and did the same with a pack of underwear and a package of black socks. She finally ended their trip by demanding Harry remove his shoes and try on a pair of cheap black velcro sandals, which also went into the cart. The total was just under a hundred and twenty pounds, and Harry wondered if that would be added to what he owed his uncle after his first paycheck.

Even if he did owe the money to his uncle, he couldn't deny that he was thankful to have new shorts, shirts and sandals to start his first day of work in. His aunt had bought the cheapest things possible, but aside from his school robes, they were the first new things he'd had in years, and he was happy with the clothes in muted colors she'd haphazardly picked out for him. Three pairs of shorts and four t-shirts were more than he could have hoped for from them, even if he was still confused about why his uncle had told her to buy him new clothes.

"Thank you," Harry hazarded when they got out of the car at home. She gave him a look, like she didn't know who he was or why he was there, and left him in the driveway. What an odd way to start the summer, he mused.

* * *

Harry loved working at the library. It was quiet and cool inside, and he was thankful to be shelving books all day instead of working outside in the hot sun. The librarian that had hired him made sure he was given a library card, and told Harry she wanted him to read one book a week, so he could give recommendations to other teens who came in. There was a ‘teen' room full of books on romance, werewolves and vampires, and other things Muggles liked to read about, and while Harry wasn't assigned solely to the teen section of the library, he spent enough time there, often arriving early to sit and read or talk to others who had come in. It was a full week after he started that his uncle surprised him a second time that summer. Harry exited the library at five minutes after six and found his uncle waiting on the street out front in the car.

"Hurry up boy!" the man shouted out the window when Harry just stood there looking dumb.

He hurried down the concrete steps and got into the front seat. "Your aunt has been complaining that you get home too late to do chores."

"Yes sir. I'll make sure to get them done."

His uncle only grunted in response as he drove off. Harry kept his eyes forward and was prepared to stay totally silent, the way his uncle liked it, for the ten minute ride home, but his uncle seemed to have other plans.

"What do your people do after they graduate?"

"Sir?"

"Is there some sort of university for your kind?"

"No sir." He worried his lip between his teeth. He'd never been allowed to talk about school before, or magic, or ‘his kind', and wasn't sure why his uncle was asking him about it now. "Some people go straight to work, others get an apprenticeship for a couple years to learn a trade."

"Is that what you're going to do?"

"I want to work for the Ministry," Harry said. "I'll get an apprenticeship with the auror office."

"The what?"

"Law enforcement."

"Does that pay well?"

Harry shrugged, but his uncle had his eyes on the road as he drove, so Harry said, "I don't know sir. I don't know too much about it yet."

Another grunt from his uncle, and Harry thought he was done asking questions, but at the next stop light he said, "What does that cost, an apprenticeship?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "A couple years worth of pay I think. It doesn't cost anything if you start before you're 17."

"Why not?"

"If you start before majority the person running the apprenticeship is in charge of you... like your parent. They have to pay for your clothes and food and keep you out of trouble."

"They house you if you start before you're 17?"

"I don't think so," Harry said, seeing the wheels turning in his uncle's mind already. Maybe he was planning on getting Harry out of the house as soon as possible.

"It might be worth it," his uncle said, turning down a side street that didn't lead back to the house. He stopped in front of a takeaway place and told Harry to stay in the car. A few minutes later he came back out with food for dinner. It wasn't uncommon for him to bring food home at least one night a week to keep aunt Petunia from having to cook, especially if it had been a hot day. Cooking in the summer always heated the house up and made his aunt feel faint.

As they drove off his uncle said, "Instead of working all summer, being someone's apprentice would mean they'd have to buy all your school things, wouldn't it?"

"The Auror's office doesn't take apprentices until they graduate school though."

"What about other things? What other things do they do this sort of thing for?"

Harry shrugged again. "Herbology, I think, and Potions I guess. Botany and chemistry," Harry added for his uncle before he had to ask. The conversation had been civil so far, something Harry wasn't used to with his family, and he didn't want to push his uncle over the edge by using too many terms from the wizarding world.

"I assume you need good grades to get into those programs?"

"Yes sir." Hermione had gone on and on about Harry and Ron needing to push hard to get good grades in their last few years of school if they had any hope of joining the Aurory.

"And do you have good grades?"

Harry stared open mouthed at his uncle as they neared their neighborhood. His uncle had never cared to know these things before, or to know anything about school at all. "Mostly sir."

"Mostly?"

"I don't have good grades in Potions. Chemistry," he corrected himself again.

"Seems to me like having an apprenticeship now in that would help raise your grades then, wouldn't it? Help you get into law enforcement later, after school."

Harry really didn't know what to say to that. He wasn't sure if it was because he was still shocked to be talking to his uncle about this at all, or if it was because his uncle had a point. He could get his needs taken care of if he had an apprenticeship, and if he had one in Potions, he might raise his grade in class. The low grade wasn't always his fault, he reminded himself though. Sometimes Snape was just an arse and would mark his papers up in red just to have a laugh, or at least that was what Harry always told himself.

As they turned the corner past the park down the street from their house, Harry said nervously, "Erm... uncle Vernon?"

"What?"

"I'm not trying to be... difficult, or anything. I was just wondering, why you wanted to know... about school, I mean, now."

His uncle pulled into the driveway in front of the house and turned off the car, before turning to look at him. "You're getting to be a man now... fifteen. You only have three years left of school. You need something to do after... a job, so you can get your own place, start your life. Otherwise you'll be hanging around here, being a burden on your aunt. That means you need to start getting things together. Start making a plan and doing what you need to do so you don't end up living here until you're in your twenties. Get your grades up, get an apprenticeship, or whatever it is you need to do."

He didn't yell at Harry for staring at him slack jawed. Instead he got out of the car and took the takeaway inside, leaving Harry in the car by himself. Had his uncle just tried to give him advice? It was self-serving... he wanted Harry out of the house as soon as possible, but it was almost... decent. He was almost decent to Harry.

There was a small portion of food waiting on the table for Harry when he got inside. He scarfed it down and got started on his chores, which included going out back to mow the lawn and weed the garden before it was too dark. His uncle was watching news on the telly when he got inside just before dark, and his aunt was in the kitchen talking to Dudley about some girl he liked at school.

"Find out how to get an apprenticeship early," his uncle said.

Harry stopped behind the couch on his way to the kitchen to wash his hands, silent for long moments.

"Yes sir." He continued on his way and his uncle didn't say anything else about it to him over the next few weeks. Life fell back into a normal routine, though his uncle was now picking him up from work on weekdays. His aunt acted like nothing had happened at all earlier in the summer when she'd grown angry with him about having to buy him clothes, and Dudley ignored Harry for the most part, which Harry preferred. Harry could have no idea that as he gave his uncle half of his first month's paycheck a couple weeks later, that life at Privet Drive was about to be turned on its head completely, not for Harry, but for his aunt and cousin.

* * *

While Harry worked at the library Monday morning, Vernon was having an interesting day at work at Grunnings. He was high up enough in the company that he enjoyed a healthy paycheck and enough time off each year to take his family on vacation over Christmas holidays. He'd worked his way up this high by hard work and doing whatever he could to impress whoever was the next highest person above him. Currently, the next highest person above him was the vice president, who ran most operations at the company, as the president lived out of country and was rarely ever seen in person.

Vernon was always quick to volunteer to take care of whatever vital operations needed seeing to if it was the vice president asking. He made sure he looked sharp every day, paid compliments to the vice president whenever he passed him in the halls, and laughed at all his jokes during board meetings. He didn't know if he could climb higher in the company, but if ever the vice president moved up, Vernon wanted to be brought up with him. This meant that when William Harris came into the office Monday morning with a spring in his step and a smile on his face, Vernon made it a point to ask how his weekend had gone.

"My weekend? Oh, yes, lovely. We took a drive out into the country and then when we got home last night we received wonderful news."

"Have you come into some family money?" Vernon asked. Unexpected windfalls of money were always wonderful news in Vernon's book.

"Money? No, no, nothing like that. My little Arla was just accepted at a prestigious boarding school! Her mother and I are so proud!"

"Congratulations sir," Vernon said. "We were so pleased when Dudley got into Smeltings. What school will she be going to?"

"Ah, yes," William said, suddenly seeming put on the spot. It was so unlike him to look... caught, at something, that Vernon took note. "A school way in the north of Scotland. We'll be sad to have her off to school for so many months of the year," he said, quickly trying to change the subject, "but she's terribly excited you see."

"Scotland you say?" Vernon asked. He couldn't think of any boarding schools in Northern Scotland aside from the boy's school... a school he wasn't supposed to say anything about. Some sort of contract for secrecy he and Petunia had been made to sign after Potter had gotten his letter.

"Yes," William said, still looking uncomfortable.

"Been trying to get in for long?" Vernon asked.

"Actually we didn't have to apply," he said. "She was invited."

Vernon couldn't believe his ears. He knew a lot of people... had prided himself on keeping in touch with all of his old friends from his own days at University and even at Smeltings, yet he'd never known anyone to go to Hogwarts aside from the boy. What if he threw out a similar name just to see how William reacted? That wouldn't be breaking any secrecy contracts.

"Hog-something, isn't it?" Vernon asked.

"Excuse me?" William turned from where he'd been making himself busy making a cup of coffee with far too many sugars in it.

"The name of the school in Scotland," Vernon said, and William met his eyes, searching them as much as Vernon was trying to read William's body language. "Hog-something," Vernon said again.

William looked stunned, and Vernon was pleased he'd impressed the man with his knowledge. He lived for the moments when he could be the most knowledgeable about a subject at work. It meant he had a leg up on his competition. "You know about Hogwarts?" William asked, barely above a whisper in case anyone else passed by the coffee room.

Vernon stuck his chest out and said with a measure of pride (not in Harry, but in his knowledge of the subject), "My nephew attends."

"The nephew that lives with you? I thought he went to state school."

"Yes, that one. We have to tell people he attends the local secondary school. He only has a few years left at school now."

"That's amazing! Can you imagine! What are the odds of my little Arla going to the same school? To magic school!" He whispered the word magic. "Dursley, you'll have to tell me all about it. We have so many questions! For instance, where is this Diagon Alley place we're supposed to buy her supplies at? How do we get onto this hidden platform to see her off at the train station in September? What is the school like?"

"Perhaps we can have dinner together," Vernon suggested. "You, your wife and little Arla. You can ask my nephew all the questions you'd like."

"What a wonderful idea! Just wonderful! That will be so helpful! They told us we could write back with questions, but that we'd have to send it to some strange address and it would take a lot of time to respond."

"They use owls to send letters," Vernon said.

"Yes, they sent her acceptance letter with one!"

"They sent hundreds to our house," Vernon said, giving a big laugh as though it had all been in good fun, and ignoring the stress it had caused Petunia and Dudley, and how angry it had made him at the time.

"Hundreds? Tell me all about it!"

When Vernon got home that evening and told Petunia his boss and his family were coming to dinner the next night, Petunia thought nothing of it. Vernon often invited important co-workers or clients to dinner. Sometimes they went out to a fancy restaurant, sometimes they had them over to the house, though not in the summer anymore while Harry was home from school. Not since the floating pudding.

"Yes dear, of course, but what about the boy? Shall we send him to Arabella's house for the evening?"

"The boy stays. The vice president's daughter is going to the boy's school in the fall. They're coming to dinner to ask him questions."

Petunia paled, and from the hallway where Harry was putting a broom in his old bedroom under the stairs, he froze and his insides chilled. What had his uncle just said?

"The boy?" Petunia asked for confirmation, voice shaky. "Wait, their daughter is going to Smeltings you mean and they want to ask Dudley questions?"

"The other one," he said. "They want to ask about Hogwarts."

"Don't say the name!" she screeched, startling both Harry and Vernon.

He looked at her and then went over to hug her, trying to calm her down. "It's important we make a good impression on them Pet. When he moves up to president, hopefully next year, I want his position. I need him to like me. Imagine the pay if I become vice president darling. We could send Dudley to Uni without emptying the savings and I could retire in a few years. We could buy a house anywhere we wanted... we could go on two vacations a year."

"Harry!" she shouted, and Harry poked his head into the dining room from the entryway where he'd been listening.

"You're to be on your best behavior tomorrow. You're to answer their every question politely and respectfully. And NO flying puddings!"

"Yes aunt Petunia," he said. She swept past him, angry at him for a second time that summer, and left him alone with his uncle.

They stared at each other. "Don't stress your aunt out tomorrow," he said. "She's got a big dinner to plan."

"Yes sir."

He seemed in a good mood as he moved into the living room to watch the news, and Harry heard a thump upstairs followed by Dudley shouting, "What!?"

He followed his uncle into the living room and said, "Uncle Vernon? Can I start getting a ride to work every morning too?" It was always best to ask his uncle when he was in a good mood, and this was the first time he'd ever felt like his uncle was in a good mood because of him.

* * *

Uncle Vernon did give him a ride to work at the library the next morning, and questioned him all the way there. Harry supposed it was because he just wanted to sound knowledgeable at the big dinner later that night. Uncle Vernon always did research about clients he was taking out for dinner, and often quizzed his aunt and cousin on things to make sure they were knowledgeable too.

"What's that sport they play in your world? The one with a broom?"

Harry was surprised his uncle even knew there was a sport involving brooms. He knew Harry had a broom, but his uncle never asked about it and Harry generally wasn't allowed to talk about things involving magic.

"Quidditch. I play for my house team."

"Seems like an awfully funny name for a sport if you ask me," Vernon said, repeating the name out loud a few times, trying to wrap his tongue around the foreign word.

"Explain it to me."

Harry felt odd talking to his uncle about the seven players, three balls, multiple hoops and golden Snitch, but was glad enough to be getting a ride to work that he didn't care. It meant he'd get there early and have extra time to read and hang out with the librarian that hired him. He enjoyed talking to her.

"And what position do you play?"

"Seeker."

"That's the one that gets the little golden ball? Didn't you say that was the star player on the team?"

"Yes. If the Seeker catches the Snitch they get 150 points for their team and the game is over."

His uncle took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at Harry and said, "You seem small for sports."

‘I seem small for someone who doesn't get to eat a whole lot of food three months out of the year,' Harry thought to himself, but pushed the thought aside and said instead, "It's not about muscles, it's about skills, and speed, and outwitting the other players. The Seeker can't catch the Snitch until their team is up by the right number of points to ensure a win."

His uncle seemed satisfied with his answers as he dropped Harry at the library, though Harry was unsurprised when his uncle asked him to repeat all the new words to him later that day when he picked him up at six. Dinner was at seven and they had to get home to get ready.

"Quidditch," Harry repeated. "The Seeker catches the golden Snitch. The Chasers pass the red Quaffle and score points through hoops. The Beaters use Beater's bats and bat two black balls called Bludgers and try to knock opposing players off their brooms."

"Sounds dangerous."

"It is."

"Have you ever fallen off your broom?"

"I was knocked off by a Bludger once and broke my arm."

"Huh." He grunted in response, and Harry supposed it was an acknowledgement that he'd been hurt, though Harry imagined it was what his uncle sounded like when he was impressed. His family had never been impressed with anything he'd done. He was sure they still weren't, but he could try to pretend all the same.

Petunia still wasn't talking to Harry when they got home. His uncle told him to take a quick shower and change into some of the nicer clothes his aunt had bought him. Harry was in and out of the shower in five minutes, and nervously awaiting the arrival of his uncle's guests. He couldn't screw this up. He'd never been allowed to one of these ‘impress people from work' dinners before, and felt like after the pudding incident if he screwed this up he'd be thrown out onto the street before the end of the night. Images of aunt Marge floating away over the back garden also popped into his mind followed by him sitting on the curb in the dark after his uncle had chased him from the house before his third year.

"Set this on the table," his aunt snapped at him just as there was a knock on the door. The change in his aunt as she went to open the door was enough to give Harry whiplash. She'd set aside the bitterness and stress in her voice with Harry and become a gracious host welcoming her guests into her home.

"Mr. and Mrs. Harris, won't you please come in. We're so happy to see you," she said warmly. "And you must be little Arla. Welcome." Harry's gut churned with too many emotions at once. Too many for him to try to sort through. What he wouldn't have given for her to greet him like that even once when returning from school, or from a day at work at the library. She rarely spoke to him these days. It was all fake. He knew it was. She hated magic and couldn't stand to have this little girl in her house, but at least she pretended for them. She never pretended for him.

"William, good to see you," his uncle said, coming down the stairs, fresh out of the shower himself. He'd had a quick shave and changed into a suit. "You've met my lovely wife I see. This is my son Dudley."

"Dudley," the man said. "I've heard so much about you."

"My nephew is around here somewhere," Vernon said. "Why don't you come into the parlor and we can talk until dinner's ready."

"Five minutes," Petunia said. "I'm just pulling the roast out now." She disappeared into the kitchen and shooed Harry away towards the living room, unable to even look at him.

Harry suddenly found himself in the living room and wondered how his aunt had managed to put on such a good show. He was nervous and uncertain he could be such a gracious host. Dudley had had lots of practice at this sort of thing, but Harry had never been allowed to participate or to have guests of his own over before.

"Here he is," Vernon said. "William, Tabitha, Arla, this is our nephew, Harry Potter."

"Harry," William said, holding out his hand. His smile at least seemed genuine. Harry hoped he was happy for his daughter and not bitter like Aunt Petunia. "Nice to meet you. Arla's been thinking up questions for you all day."

"Nice to meet you," Harry said, shaking the man's hand. "And you," he said, holding out his hand to Mrs. Harris, and then to Arla.

"We were so surprised to find out she had magic," Mrs. Harris said, sitting on the sofa next to her husband and daughter. Uncle Vernon was in his chair, and for once Harry was invited to sit in the other comfortable chair, the one Petunia usually sat on when not using the sofa.

"I was surprised too," Harry said.

"Vernon said your mother was magic?" William asked.

"Both of my parents were. They died when I was a baby."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Mrs. Harris said. "I'm glad you found a nice home to grow up in though!"

"Yes," Harry said, throat growing tight. He couldn't disagree with them openly. Everything seemed to be riding on this night, including his ability to stay for the rest of the summer... and in future summers.

"So tell us about Hogwarts Harry," William said. "The letter didn't say too much about the school itself other than that it was very old and prestigious."

"It's up in the mountains of Scotland. It's a massive castle overlooking sprawling grounds and a big lake. There's forests around three sides, and a magical village nearby that's close enough to walk to."

"It sounds very pretty," Mrs. Harris said.

"It's really nice." Now that they were talking about Hogwarts, Harry was able to pretend his relatives weren't there and that they weren't openly talking about magic in their home. Instead he focused on the conversation and how open these people seemed to be about hearing his experiences. The more he talked about it the less he felt like he had to put on a show like his aunt, and the more he just relaxed.

"The letter said I'd be living in a house," Arla said, speaking for the first time that evening. "How can that be if I'm living in a castle?"

"There are four houses at Hogwarts. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. It's a group of kids you'll spend all seven school years with. They each stay in a different part of the castle and have their own teacher that watches out for them all year. Each house values different traits. When you ride the train to school a bunch of the first years every year try to convince each other there's some sort of test to get into one of the houses. Don't believe them. They always try to say you have to fight a dragon, or a troll, but it's not true. You put on a magic hat and it decides which house you fit best with."

"Dragons and trolls aren't real, are they?" Arla asked, eyes wide.

"Sure they are, but there aren't any at the school. Not normally anyway."

"What house are you in? What are the traits?" William asked.

"I'm in Gryffindor. Gryffindor values loyalty and bravery and Gryffindors live in Gryffindor tower. It's got a view from the tower of the front grounds and a little of the Black Lake. There's Slytherin, they live in the Dungeons, and value cunning and are very direct. I heard a lot of businessmen and women come out of Slytherin. Hufflepuff lives under the Great Hall, they value honesty and friendliness. They're very open to everyone and willing to give everyone a chance. Last there's Ravenclaw. They live in Ravenclaw tower and value intelligence and studying. A lot of studying. All of the houses sort of value all of those things and more, but the things I mentioned are what each house values the most, so when you get sorted into a house you know you're going into a group of people that's already a lot like you. Your house is like your family but at school."

"Dinner's ready," Aunt Petunia said quietly from behind them. For that brief moment she'd dropped her act and sounded sad almost. It had startled Harry because he'd let the room melt away from him and this was his reminder of where he really was. In the next moment, her gracious tone had come back though. "Everything is ready and looks absolutely delicious! Please come and have a seat in the dining room!"

Harry waited until they had all gone through to the dining room to follow. His uncle passed him and slapped him on the back. "Fine work, just fine," he said. A leaf had been added to the table to make room for their guests, and Harry ended up seated next to his uncle who was at the head of the table. Usually this spot was reserved for Dudley when they had guests like aunt Marge.

Harry for once was served a healthy portion of roast, potatoes, and vegetables. He had an equal portion to everyone else. As he ate their guests asked him questions and he did his best to answer. He told them about the various classes, extracurricular activities, and some of the school's history. Uncle Vernon proudly told William about Quidditch, and got all of the names almost right, and ended with, "Harry is the star player of his team. If he catches the Snitch the game ends and his team gets enough points to win the game." It wasn't quite true by his description of it, but close enough. Their guests seemed thoroughly impressed with Harry at least, which seemed to be his uncle's goal this evening.

Aunt Petunia served cobbler, and Harry was only happy that it wasn't floating above their guests heads. He'd double checked in his room after his shower to be certain Dobby wasn't lurking in the wardrobe or under the bed waiting to get him in trouble again.

"Now what about this alley we need to get supplies in," William asked. "It said it's in London, but the instructions weren't quite clear. I drove by the address twice and couldn't see it."

"It's invisible to Muggles. Non-magic folk sir," Harry clarified. "If you go with Arla she'll be able to see it and take you in. You have to go through the Leaky Cauldron, it's a pub with an inn above it. In the back of the pub there's a brick wall. Her letter should have included instructions. The pub owner or someone else will have to tap it with their wand to let you in the first time until Arla has her wand."

"It all seems so complicated," Mrs. Harris said. Harry could see out of the corner of his eye, his aunt shaking her head with her eyes closed, hand over her mouth. She knew what was coming like Harry did before his uncle spoke.

"Well you can go with us when we go to get Harry's things," Vernon said. Dudley dropped his fork in surprise and it clattered loudly onto his plate, and then off the side and onto the floor.

"Sorry about that. So clumsy," Dudley said, picking the fork up and putting it back on the table.

"I'll get you another one," Petunia said, rising to leave the dining room, though once she was gone she didn't come back for several minutes.

Harry for his part, didn't know what to say. His family had never been to Diagonalley. He always went with his friends. He didn't have a definite date set yet, but his uncle already seemed to be ahead of him.

"We can go this weekend if you want."

"Oh could we daddy? Please?" Arla asked tugging gently on his sleeve.

"Of course darling, what a generous offer," he said, turning to Vernon. "That is, if it wouldn't be too much trouble." Then he turned to Harry. "How much money will all of this cost?"

"About a thousand pounds," Harry said after long moments, finding his voice again. "It doesn't cost that much every year, but because it's her first year she'll need a cauldron, dragon hide gloves, and a wand. Those add up fast."

"Those were on my supply list," she said.

"You can buy pets there too... owls and the like," Harry said, "and they can be costly because you have to get all the equipment and food and things you need to take care of them too. You might also want to pick up a few extra books while you're there. There's one my friend Hermione would kick me for not telling you about. It's called Hogwarts: A History and it will tell you everything you want to know about the castle. She had it memorized practically before our first year started."

"Is she from a magical family too?" Mrs. Harris asked.

"No maam, she's Muggleborn. She's the brightest witch in our year... maybe even in the whole school. Everyone says she should have been in Ravenclaw, but she's in Gryffindor instead. She's top of our class in almost everything."

"Almost?" William asked.

"I'm top of our class in Defense," Harry said proudly. Hermione studied hard in Defense, and she was wicked hard to beat in a duel, but nothing could beat the experience Harry had in fighting for his life year after year. Defense and Quidditch were the only things he was really good at.

"Harry's thinking about an apprenticeship with the Ministry of Magic," Vernon said, taking the chance to show his knowledge again, "In law enforcement. But he may take an apprenticeship sooner in another subject. Isn't that right Harry?"

Harry gave his uncle a look, and then looked down at his plate. "Yes sir." In all the excitement and nervousness over their guests, Harry had nearly forgotten about that. He kept hoping his uncle would forget about it.

They stayed until almost ten pm that evening asking Harry questions, and when they left, Harry was surprised to find that Dudley had been listening as raptly as Arla had. It was all things he'd never been allowed to hear before, and he'd been so silent throughout the night Harry had forgotten he was there. It was the strangest night he'd ever had at Four Privet Drive, and that included the night he'd escaped from his bedroom in a flying car and the time hundreds of letters had come in through the chimney. It even beat out the night with the flying pudding.

"Sir," Harry reminded his uncle nervously. "I've only got one paycheck. I don't have funds to get my supplies right now."

"Don't worry about it."

Harry couldn't help but worry about it though.

"Sir, when we go into the shops and they're getting their supplies, what do I do when they ask why I'm not getting mine?"

Vernon looked at him as they sat parked out in front of the Leaky Cauldron, waiting for the Harris' to arrive. "How would it look to my boss if I didn't buy all of my nephew's supplies?"

"I- don't know sir." He did know, but he didn't want to say. He'd grown so used to them not buying anything he needed that he rarely thought about it.

"Get what you need today and pay me back at the end of the summer."

Harry turned to stare out the window. "Yes sir." His uncle had been so different lately in regards to him that it had been shocking. He couldn't let himself forget though that his uncle wasn't actually different. It was all an act, or somehow in his own self interest. Harry just needed to get himself and the Harris' through the day, and make sure he didn't anger his uncle in the process.

"Sir, we have to exchange any money you have at the bank."

"I expected we would."

"It's run by goblins."

His uncle turned to him just as the Harris' pulled up in front of them in their car and parked. "Goblins?"

"As a general rule, if you see anyone that looks different somehow, they'll find it rude if you stare or say anything about it at all. They all have wands, or if they don't they can do magic with a snap of their fingers or wave of their hands."

Vernon snorted. "That's helpful." Then he stared at Harry for a moment. "I had no idea you were this helpful boy." He got out of the car and greeted his boss like they were old friends, and Harry got out as well. He almost laughed as his uncle relayed the information Harry had just given him as if he'd been to Diagon Alley a thousand times himself, and William and his wife hung on his every word.

"Uh," Harry said, waiting for his chance to speak. "There's just one more thing." He was nervous about what he had to say and how they'd perceive it, but saw that he had their attention nonetheless. Feeling put on the spot again he said quickly, "If we get stopped by people... I mean, if I get stopped by people, try to just keep walking. Unless it's a friend, then I'll let you know."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Harris asked.

Harry's cheeks tinged red. How did he say this without them thinking he had a big head? ‘I'm somewhat of a big deal' just didn't sound like it would go over well. "It's a bit hard to explain. It's nothing bad, I'm just, going to get stopped by people a lot. It's best if we keep going when possible."

William seemed to take him at his word, gave a nod, and motioned for Harry to lead them into the Leaky Cauldron, which they still couldn't see. He heard them gasp when the door suddenly appeared for them as soon as Harry had opened it.

Harry kept his head down and tried to pass through quietly, but Tom called out to him. "Mr. Potter, you're in earlier than usual. Don't normally see you around until the end of summer!"

Harry glanced up and gave him a wave. "Yes sir," he said, trying to hurry through to the back door as fast as he could now, aware that he'd caught the attention of the twelve or so guests there having breakfast or tea. "I came to show some friends to the wand shop."

People started to murmur, but Harry had rushed them all outside again and to the brick wall. He showed Arla the pattern and which bricks to touch and how to recognize them, and watched with satisfaction as she and her parents (and uncle Vernon) gasped again at the brick wall as it morphed into an arch and opened up onto Diagon Alley. The alley wasn't terribly busy yet, and Harry was thankful.

"We need to go to Gringotts first to exchange money," he explained, and led them to the towering white goblin bank. They made it through the exchange of money without incident, and Harry was surprised to see that his uncle had actually brought a thousand pounds. He examined the odd coins he'd been handed in return as the Harris' exchanged their money.

Back out on the Alley Harry led them to Ollivander's first. Ollivander ignored the others at first in favor of asking Harry how his wand was performing. He seemed particularly interested in his latest exchange with Voldemort and how their wands had reacted.

"Did you see something interesting in your last exchange with You-Know-Who?" Ollivander asked after examining Harry's wand.

"Sir?"

"Ghosts Mr. Potter. Of your parents perhaps?"

Harry looked down.

"I see," Ollivander said. "You are one of so few I have known to own brother wands. As it so happens, most brother wands end up being used by enemies. Unintended Priori Incantatem is primarily documented during these duels alone."

"Yes sir."

"If it happens too many times, the wands may shatter. Yours seems to be fine after this one encounter however."

He handed Harry's wand back to him, and Harry put it in his back pocket. Ollivander finally turned his attention to his new customers, and spent thirty minutes finding just the right wand for Arla.

Back outside Harry was glad to be out of the oppressive feeling little shop and into fresh air, though that feeling was short lived when people murmured his name as they walked by and headed for the robe shop.

Harry was fitted with robes on a stool next to Arla as she was fitted for hers. Neville Longbottom and his gran came in halfway through the fitting.

"There you are Harry," Neville said. "People are murmuring up and down the alley about Harry Potter so I figured you were here somewhere."

"I'm sorry to hear about your experience at the end of the year Harry," Neville's gran said. It was the first time he'd ever met her, though he'd heard a lot about her over the years from Neville. "I'm relieved you're well though. I can't imagine what the Diggory's are going through." She saw how Harry's face paled as she said it though and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, that was thoughtless of me to say."

"S'ok," Harry mumbled. Madam Malkin finished fitting him for robes first, and he excused himself, wanting some fresh air outside while Neville started getting fitted for his robes and while Arla finished with hers. As the door closed as he went back out onto the Alley, he heard William ask, "What happened at the end of the year?"

He wasn't sure if she had told them or not, because they didn't say anything to Harry once they came out with Arla's robes, but they were quiet as they got potions kits and cauldrons and as Harry got owl treats for Hedwig while Arla begged her parents for an owl and a cat both.

A few people tried to stop Harry in the alley on the way to Flourish And Blotts to shake his hand or express regret in what had happened at the end of the school year with the tournament, but Harry said little more than what he needed to in order to keep them moving down the alley.

He let Arla's parents look through the bookstore on their own as he got his books, and his uncle had disappeared to somewhere, so Harry had a few moments to himself. Flourish and Blotts was quiet and reminded him of the library. This summer he had really come to appreciate Hermione's love for the school library, because the library in Little Whinging had become a safe space for him where he was welcome. It was quiet, and dark, and cool, and the librarian was nice. In the midst of the chaos that was Diagonalley, Flourish and Blotts was a welcome refuge, even if only a momentary one. That refuge was just an illusion it seemed however, that was broken by the sound of Snape's low voice.

"Eating up the attention Potter?"

Harry closed his eyes and questioned silently why he had to run into Snape here, of all places, and at all times. It had been a trying day and the last thing he needed was to be yelled at and ridiculed by Snape.

He turned slowly and questioned, "Sir?" He didn't know why he bothered. He knew Snape would follow up one put down with another.

"All I've heard since I've stepped onto the alley this morning was about the ‘Great Harry Potter' and his friends."

"I'm just trying to get my school supplies sir."

"Harry! Look! I found it!" Arla chose that moment to come bounding up to him with a copy of Hogwarts A History. "I'm gonna memorize it just like you said!" She skipped off without another word to go back to her parents.

"Indoctrinating them young I see," Snape sneered. "You couldn't even wait until she got to Hogwarts to enroll her in your fan club of little sycophants?"

Uncle Vernon had also chosen this moment to reappear. "Got your books Harry?" It was odd to have him calling him by his first name, but the Harris' were just in the next aisle over, and Harry didn't expect him to start calling him boy again until they were in the car and well on their way back to Little Whinging.

"Yes uncle Vernon."

"Who is this?" his uncle gruffed. He'd been gruffing at people when they tried to stop them in the alley, seeming to take Harry's words to heart about continuing on and not wasting time.

"This is Professor Snape, the Potions Master at school. He's the Head of Slytherin house."

Uncle Vernon's demeanor changed instantly. "Could you answer a question for me then Professor?" He didn't give Snape a chance to say no or to walk away and followed up with, "How does one go about getting an apprenticeship?"

"That would depend on the type of apprenticeship." Snape's lip curled at Vernon and his question, though Harry didn't know why. Maybe it was just because he was associated with Harry. If only Snape knew how much his uncle hated him, then maybe they could start a ‘we hate Harry' club. He almost laughed at the thought.

"What about a Potions apprenticeship?"

Snape turned and sneered at Harry. "Surely not Potter," Snape said with distaste. Harry ignored him and kept his eyes on his shoes however.

"Why not?" Vernon asked. "His grades are low in Potions. Wouldn't a Potions apprenticeship help bring his grades up so he could graduate with high marks? He needs high marks to get an apprenticeship with the Ministry of Magic doesn't he?"

"He would need a Potions Master willing to take him on. You would also be giving up your parental rights to him if he started the apprenticeship before he was 17. The Master who took him on would say where he went and what he did. He or she would be in charge of his studies, both during the school year and on holidays. He would likely continue to live with you, but in the end you would have no say over his life, discipline for school infractions, or even medical decisions involving him."

"I understand," Vernon said. "He explained it to me."

"Yet you still wish to have him apprenticed?" Snape seemed skeptical.

"His grade in Potions is low, isn't it? He needs the help." Harry was surprised Snape wasn't seeing right through his uncle's crock of crap. The man just wanted Harry out of the house, but he was spinning it like he cared about Harry's grades or his future. He didn't care about Harry at all.

"What do you have to say about this Potter?"

Harry was surprised Snape was asking him at all.

"Erm... I don't need the help in Potions sir."

Snape snorted. "It's that attitude that earned you the low grade in the first place."

"We just want to know where to start the process," Vernon said.

"I know of no Potions Masters taking on apprentices at this time."

"What about you?" Vernon asked, and Harry choked, drawing Snape's attention and amusement towards him for a brief moment.

"I am not," Snape said, and Harry was relieved, but Vernon was keen on pressing the issue.

"It would make the most sense as you already work at the school. You'd be there to discipline him if he needed it, see to medical decisions since we can't be there with him, and as his teacher you know how much help he needs to get his grade up. He's only got three years left of school and an apprenticeship lasts for what? Two wasn't it?"

"Two if they are under the age of majority, and it will not result in a Potions Mastery."

Harry looked up at the two men, eyes traveling back and forth between them in horror. Snape wasn't considering this, was he?!

"As I said before, I am not in the market for an apprentice. If I hear of anyone who is, I will let them know Mr. Potter is seeking an apprenticeship." He gave Harry's horrified look a look of amusement, and then didn't give Vernon a chance to protest as he swept away and out of the bookstore.

"Well, I tried boy," Vernon said. "You didn't help your case any just standing there with your mouth open."

Harry turned his attention back to his uncle. "I don't envy you if he's your teacher. I can see why you're getting the low grade. Wouldn't hurt to butter him up some over the school year... see if you can't get him to take you as an apprentice. He'd have to give you a good grade if he was in charge of you, or it would look bad on himself. And he'd have to buy your school supplies too. You wouldn't have to work over the summer next year."

Vernon strode off to see if he could hurry William and his family along, as this was their last stop for the day, and Harry stared at his back as he went. He was still trying to spin this like it was in Harry's best interest, but Harry didn't believe a word of it. And his uncle was wrong. An apprenticeship with Snape would be constant work. Harry would never have a moment of peace. It would be worse than all his years at the Dursley's combined.

Severus snorted into his coffee later that afternoon, back in the safety of his flat in London above Camden Alley. There were a few children playing with a Quaffle down below in the narrow alley between two rows of two to four story flats. The flats were in several different buildings, and had all been purchased by wizards twenty years back. There were little pockets of wizarding communities like this across London and in other places across the isles. Severus valued this little piece of serenity during the summer because there were few children about, and it was close to several of his favorite coffee shops, an apothecary that carried rare ingredients, and a bookstore down at the end of Camden Alley that was owned by a Muggleborn wizard that had graduated Hogwarts a few years prior. It wasn't hidden from Muggle view, but the alley was gated at all the entrances, and only able to be unlocked with a password, which changed infrequently.

He shook his head from his small third story patio as the children played below, laughing and giggling as the Quaffle hit the wall across the alley, narrowly avoiding a window. He wouldn't mind having an apprentice, even if it was a child so long as the child had an aptitude for Potions or a willingness to learn (and wasn't as insolent as Potter). Potter hated Potions. The look on the brat's face when his uncle had suggested Severus taking him on as an apprentice mirrored Severus' own disgust at the idea, though it was amusing to see the brat look so uncomfortable. Clearly the boy had never told his uncle about their mutual dislike of each other, though the realization surprised Severus. He was certain the little cretin would be complaining non-stop about all those he hated and how ‘unfair' his ‘mean' Potions Professor was. Perhaps he did complain and his guardians simply ignored it.

As the children laughed below again Severus shook his head in disgust and took another sip of his coffee. No, he would never take Potter on as an apprentice. When an apprenticeship was done and the apprentice went out into the world to work, or even to take on another apprenticeship, everything they did reflected on their prior master. Potter's behavior was appalling and he was certain it would continue to be so, so every time the boy got in trouble, every time he was rude, every time he showed his poor aptitude for potions, that would reflect badly on Severus if he took him on (or on whatever other poor Potions Master the boy's family roped into taking him).

Severus always felt that the boy's relatives must be far too lax on him judging by his poor behavior and attitude at school. They must let the child laze about during holidays. The boy's summer homework always looked rushed when he turned it in at the start of the term, which meant his aunt and uncle weren't making him do it over the summer and really put time and effort into it. If they'd spent any time at all disciplining him he might not be such a little monster at school and Severus and the other professors wouldn't be as stressed out during the term about him running off into danger with his friends at every turn, flying cars to school, and being so disrespectful. Severus was the only professor that thought he was disrespectful, but the others agreed with him that they'd rather have a quiet year where Potter and his friends weren't stirring up trouble.

Severus finished his coffee and went inside. He loved sitting on his patio in the summer and reading a good book, drinking coffee, or just observing the world away from Hogwarts.

As much as Severus tried to push Potter and his ignorant relatives from his mind over the next few days as he went about his summer brewing, worked on grading rubrics for the upcoming year, and thought about planning a trip to the mountains to collect several ingredients he was short on, Potter kept intruding into his thoughts. The brat. His relatives would never reign him in. If they were going to do so, they would have already. Severus wasn't looking forward to three more years with the brat in class, sticking his chin up defiantly at him and traipsing about the castle as if he owned the place. The brat stayed over every holiday, so there was no peace for Severus during the term.

A few days after his encounter with Potter and his uncle on Diagon, the unbidden thought came to Severus that maybe he should search around for a Potions Master looking for an apprentice. He could owl the boy's family a list. The Headmaster wouldn't be happy with him because it would mean a change in the boy's guardianship, but maybe he could find a man or woman willing to take the boy on and curb his delinquent tendencies. He brushed the thought aside as quickly as it had come however. He would never push Potter off on anyone. They'd find out quickly what a handful he could be and be angry with him. Word spread quickly in the potions community, and you did not want to make people angry, because they'd refuse to work with you or raise their prices when they were selling ingredients to you. He'd seen it happen before and once he'd raised his former Potion Master's ire and had been frowned upon by the community for six months until they felt Severus had become repentant.

That was really the sort of thing Potter needed, Severus thought. He needed people around him that would tell him when he was being an arrogant brat and punish him until he changed his attitude.

A few days later, Severus woke up, and groaned. "No," he said to himself as he sat up in bed. He'd dreamt that he had taken on the boy as an apprentice. "Definitely not." But as he got up and dressed the idea kept pestering him. "No," he said to himself in the mirror. "He can't be reigned in, and you're not the one to try."

He kept shaking his head as he went out for breakfast, brought coffee back to his flat so he could sit on his patio and sip on it as he read, and finally had to set his book down because he couldn't concentrate on it. "Fool," he said to himself, and rose to write a letter to Mr. Dursley. If anyone was going to reform the Potter brat, it was going to be him. He was going to turn Harry Potter into the most obedient student in school. He really wanted a quiet year without any incidents. That might not be this year, but it could be next year, or the year after if Severus started with the boy now.

* * *

"We did it boy!"

Harry pulled his head out of the shed in the back garden from where he'd been putting gloves and his shovel away. He'd just weeded and re-planted a spot in the back that Aunt Petunia had made him do.

"Sir?"

Uncle Vernon came out the back door with a letter crumpled in his hand, waving it in Harry's face and looking excited. "We got you that apprenticeship. Bloke changed his mind!"

"Who?"

"That Snape character from school." He handed Harry the letter and Harry's face paled as he saw the Potion Master's loopy cursive, proclaiming that he would take Harry on as a Potions apprentice until the end of his 6th school year.

His uncle slapped him on the back. "What do you think of that boy? Solved your problem and mine in one go. You won't have to work in the summers and he'll get your grades up to where they need to be so you're not hanging around here after you graduate school."

Harry swallowed thickly, throat tight and then looked up at his uncle. "Sir, thank you. I-" he felt like he was about to have a panic attack right there in the yard. "I don't need an apprenticeship to get my grades up. I promise I'll get my Potions grade up to the best it can be, and it'll stay up. My friend will tutor me."

"If your friends were going to help you they would have done it before now. This is decided." He took the letter back from Harry and scanned down it again. "He says there's some paperwork to fill out and then you'll be his apprentice."

"I'll still be living here though," Harry said.

"For now," his uncle said, going into the house to deliver the ‘good news' to aunt Petunia.

Harry stumbled back until he felt the shed behind him, and slid down to the ground, breathing heavily. His life was officially over.

* * *

Dudley it seemed, felt bad for Harry. That was unusual, but it seemed his father had also found some sort of tutor for him in maths and other subjects he was doing poorly in, and he wanted to commiserate with Harry about it.

"I tried to get mum to get me out of it," Dudley said later that week at the park. "She said she wanted me to get into university though. I don't want to go to uni! It'll be too much work!"

"It's not the same," Harry said. "You're only going to tutoring a couple hours a week. This is an apprenticeship. It means I have to do whatever he says whenever he says. He could even make me live with him if he wanted to. He's so mean. Imagine the worst teacher at your school, times ten and that teacher would still be nicer than Snape."

Dudley laughed and Harry shot him a glare. "For what it's worth mum feels bad for you too."

"What?"

"I heard her and dad talking the other night. She said she knew Snape before he was a teacher, and that he's a git. She said he's poor and lives in the worst part of London and that his house is falling down. She told dad he was the ‘worst sort of character'."

"Do you think she changed his mind?"

Dudley shook his head. "No. When does dad ever change his mind?" They sat quietly on the swings for a while, both feeling sorry for themselves as the sun set.

"Maybe I just won't go home," Harry said.

"You? Run away?" Dudley scoffed. "Thought you would have by now already. You always come back though. You're like a monkey or something, you never learn."

"Shut up Dudley."

"How does this thing work anyway? He's tutoring you and he's got custody of you, but you still live here? Does that mean you don't go back to school?"

"I'll still go to Hogwarts, but he'll be my guardian, and I have to learn extra potions. I'll still live here."

"Shame," Dudley said.

"What?"

"He should take you to live with him. You said he sucks, but seriously, it's got to be better for you there with your own people than here doesn't it?"

Harry shook his head. His cousin was just like his uncle. He just wanted to get rid of him.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I want you to leave. Until I heard you talking to the Harris' I had no idea you were kind of... a cool guy. Sounds like you're kind of a big deal at your school and have a lot of friends. But, there's got to be someplace better for you than here." He eyed the fresh bruise on Harry's eye. Harry had protested to his aunt and uncle about the apprenticeship one too many times that week and finally his uncle had called him ungrateful and smacked him hard enough to give him a large bruise. The swelling had gone down, but the black eye was sure to be there for a while yet.

"If you ever meet Snape, you'll understand that this is the worst thing that can possibly happen to me." Maybe even worse than if Voldemort himself had taken Harry as an apprentice.

When they got back to the house, Harry paused on the threshold, not expecting Snape to be there already. It had only been a week since they'd received his letter. He had a stack of papers in hand and looked like he was leaving.

"I will be by to collect you tomorrow at noon for one week Potter. Have your things ready." Then he swept past him and out the front door.

Harry looked into the dining room where his aunt and uncle had just signed the papers, and aunt Petunia gave him a sorry look before looking away. That was a first. She never looked sorry for anything she'd done to Harry, but maybe she knew this was the worst.

The next morning Harry got up as early as he could and walked into town. He needed to tell the librarian that he couldn't work there anymore. He wasn't sure how to tell her because they didn't have apprenticeships in the Muggle world. What he ended up telling her was that this was his last day and he could only work until eleven am because his distant uncle had taken custody of him and was going to be coming to get him.

"I'll still be around some," Harry said. "I can still come use the library when I come back to visit can't I?"

"Of course," she told him. "If I send your last paycheck to your aunt and uncle's house will you get it?"

"Yes maam. I'm going to be gone for a week and then I'll be back for a little bit before he takes me again I guess. I'm not really sure."

She eyed his black eye like Dudley had done the day before. "Maybe it's for the best that you're going with him," she said.

"Yes maam," he said dully.

"Harry, you come back whenever you can, ok? I want to hear all about life where you're going."

"Ok."

She tousled his hair and had Harry shelve a few more books before he had to leave at eleven. She had him check out another book to take with him and told him if he couldn't get it back to the library after two weeks when it was due, not to worry about it and to get it back whenever he could.

Harry arrived back at the house at five minutes to noon and traipsed upstairs to get his trunk. He had packed his few belongings into it the night before. He struggled to get it down the stairs by himself, and then sat on it by the front door waiting for Snape. At exactly noon there was a knock on the door and Harry rose to open it. His cousin was out with his friends and his aunt had made herself scarce. They didn't even care to say goodbye, not that they ever had, not even when he was leaving for the school year.

"Potter," Snape greeted him with a sneer as he opened the door. "Is this all of your things?"

"Yes sir."

"Tell your relatives you are leaving."

"I did sir."

He looked around the entryway, clearly expecting to find Harry's family, but it was just the two of them there.

"Fine. Grab your trunk and do not let go."

Harry did as he was told and Snape took his arm, gripping it hard before apparating him away to a depressing fate. Harry never thought he'd be sorry to leave Privet Drive, and in fact always looked forward to the day he could go back to school each year, but a rock fell into the pit of his stomach at the thought that life had changed for him forever.

"Potter," Snape sneered, seeing him taking in the new environment. "This is my home, and there are rules you will follow when you are here."

Harry let go of the handle of his trunk and turned to Snape, eyes wide as he tried to suppress the panic rising up inside of him. He'd never survive an apprenticeship with Snape. The man had to know that.

"Sir," Harry said, trying to sound as respectful as he could. "Would you reconsider?"

"Reconsider what Potter? You have not even heard the rules yet." From the look on his face Harry knew the man knew exactly what Harry was going to say.

"The apprenticeship sir. It can't work. I promise I'll get my potions grade up on my own. I'll be top of the class. I don't want to... ruin your time off," Harry said, wondering if he could spin things like his uncle could to make it seem like it was in Snape's best interest. He'd never tried to do something like that before.

"You're terrible at manipulation Potter, and it ends right here," he said. "The papers have been signed. You don't have to like it, but you are required to be obedient to me." He seemed to be waiting for Harry to argue with him, but Harry was eyeing the man's hands, which were at his sides. He was Harry's guardian now and Harry didn't think he could take getting punched by his Potions Professor. After summer holidays were over he went back to Hogwarts, where he was safe from getting hit or refused food. Snape would be at Hogwarts though. Harry felt like all the air had left his lungs. He had nowhere safe left to go now, not even the library, which had been his summer refuge. It had all been ripped away from him.

"I expect you to pay attention when I'm speaking," Snape snapped, and Harry's eyes snapped back up to him. Apparently he'd been talking and Harry hadn't been listening.

"Yes sir."

"Repeat the first few rules back to me."

Harry shook his head. "I didn't hear them sir, I'm sorry."

The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Rule one, you are to address me with respect at all times. The same goes with all of your Professors and other adults. If I hear of you being disrespectful there will be swift consequences."

Harry looked back down to the floor, this time trying to ignore looking at Snape's hands. They were bony, unlike his uncle's beefy hands and he imagined it would hurt a lot to be hit with bony knuckles. "Yes sir."

"You will treat my home and your items with respect, as well as the items of others. You won't destroy anything, and will keep things clean and tidy. This includes during potion making. If you make a mess, clean it up."

"Yes sir."

"Three, you are to put maximum effort into your school work and any potions brewing or potions preparation we do. I am not above banning you from quidditch or grounding you, even during the school year if you do not keep your grades up or aren't attending to your potions duties."

Snape went on for a few more minutes with other rules, like that Harry wasn't to go out without permission when with Snape, and that he'd better be obedient at home with his family and while at school because punishments would be swift and severe for rule breaking or wrongdoing.

When he was done dressing Harry down, despite that Harry hadn't done anything wrong yet, the man crossed his arms and sighed heavily again. "You may use magic while in this flat or on Camden Alley as magic here is untraceable. They can't differentiate underage magic from adult magic here. Levitate your trunk and follow me."

Harry pulled out his wand and levitated his trunk as he followed through the small living room and into a door at the back of the living room and behind the kitchen. There were three doors and he was taken through the one on the far left.

"This is where you will stay when with me," Snape said. "I have inspected the room for damage and will know if you are treating the space with disrespect. You are not to have food in here."

Harry set his trunk down. The room was small, but better than what he had at the Dursleys. There was a twin bed against the wall by the door with a light gray blanket and sheets, and a small desk with a chair. There was even a little window letting light in, though it appeared to be looking at a wall of another building a few feet away.

"Follow me."

Harry followed him back into the living room, and Snape opened the door next to Harry's bedroom door. "The bathroom. You will keep all of your toiletries in your room and take them with you when you need to shower or brush your teeth."

He pointed at the third door, which was closed, and said, "That is my room. You are not to enter it under any circumstances. If you must get me at night, you are to knock and wait for me to open the door."

"Yes sir."

Finally he took Harry to the wall of windows in the living room and Harry found that one was actually a door. Snape twisted the handle and the door opened inward to reveal a little porch with black metal railing and a few plants in pots. It looked out over an alley and was just big enough for a folding wooden chair and a little black metal table.

"We are in Camden Alley. It is a magical pocket of London." He pointed to the far end of the alley where there was a door with a sign over it. "That is a book store. Next to it on the left, there in the archway, is an exit to Muggle London. You are not to go out that exit or any others. All of the exits are gated." He turned and pointed behind them down to the other end of the little alley, which they were closer to. "There is an apothecary down at the other end." Pointing back towards the bookstore he said, "Down the side alley on the right there are a few restaurants and coffee shops. All are owned by wizards. Do not go out unless you have permission. I expect you to follow all the rules and conduct yourself as a respectful and obedient young man would when you are out, especially when running errands for me."

"Yes sir."

Snape stared at him again, and took in his black eye. "Been fighting have you? There will be none of that here. There are other Hogwarts students that live on Camden Alley and you will not engage in arguments or fights, or bully any of them or the other children on the alley."

Harry wanted to protest, but kept his mouth closed. He never started fights, though Draco often tried to get him to rise to his bait to draw him into a duel, and Snape hadn't cared to know the truth about his black eye, not that Harry would have told him if he'd given him the chance. Harry wasn't surprised that Snape thought he was a bully. He'd accused Harry of that sort of thing before at school, and Harry didn't believe he had any chance of changing his mind about it.

"Go to your room and work on summer homework until dinner. I will be looking over all of your summer homework when it's complete to ensure it has been done properly and with enough thought and effort put into it, so see that you do it right the first time. You will have no free time and will not begin potions work until your summer homework is completed."

"Yes sir." Harry made a hasty escape to the guest room and wondered if he'd be allowed to close the door or not so he could get some space to have a panic attack in private. He settled on closing the door most of the way so it was only open a crack, and then sat down on the chair at the desk, putting his head in his hands.

Breathe, just breath, he told himself. Despite that Snape was now his guardian and his life was over, the day hadn't gone so bad, yet. Snape had been an arse already, but Harry had expected that. It could have been worse, he could have ended up in a falling down house in a bad neighborhood. He could have been set to a dozen chores right away.

He hadn't expected to end up in a nice little pocket of magical flats in London, or to be given a room of his own with a bed that looked soft. He hadn't expected to be given time to complete his homework either. His school things were always locked away for the summer and he ended up completing his homework on the train ride to school or after the welcoming feast each year. Snape clearly thought he was lazy and intended to hold Harry to some sort of high standard with his school work, but Harry was grateful for time to complete it. He always started the year with bad grades in all his classes because his summer homework counted as three weeks of grades, and he had to fight all year to get his grades up to As and Es, and in Defense up to an O. If the man thought he was going to complain about a chance to get a leg up in classes, he was wrong.

Just get your work done, and lay low, and don't piss him off. Well, you're going to piss him off, so scratch that. Just survive the week so you can get back to Little Whinging.

Plan finally in place, Harry opened his trunk and pulled out his new Defense textbook and the notes he had on the Defense summer assignment and some parchment and an old quill that really needed to be thrown away but was the best Harry had at the moment.

Research and discuss the twelve classes of banned spells, their origins and uses, why they were banned, and any controversy over the banning of specific spells. Discuss punishments for using the banned classes of spells, and list instances that played crucial roles in the banning of at least one spell in each of the twelve classes.

They'd touched briefly on this at the end of the year but not much, and Harry for his part was interested in all things involving defense, especially since he wanted to be an auror. This was the type of thing he'd be expected to know if he was going to work for the Ministry.

After writing the assignment at the top of a piece of parchment (one of the few he had left), he pulled out an old homework assignment and flipped it over to the back to write notes. His uncle had bought his robes and new school books and Potions kit, but nothing else. Harry would still need to get quills, ink and parchment, a book bag, and a few other things. Even if Snape was supposed to provide for him ‘technically', Harry doubted he would.

His stomach growled as he worked, and he wished he'd gotten lunch at home before Snape had collected him, but he was used to working while hungry so he did his best to ignore it. At five thirty Snape pushed his bedroom door open and glared at him as he sat doing his work. Harry startled when the man spoke, not realizing he had come in.

"Dinner is ready Potter."

Harry tried to still his beating heart, face heating up at the fact that he'd jumped a little when Snape spoke. "Yes sir."

"What have you accomplished in the last four hours?" He was looking at the blank parchment with the assignment written on top.

"I've been researching the twelve classes of banned magic and taking notes."

"For four and a half hours?"

Harry held up his pages of notes to show him but Snape didn't seem interested. Instead he said, "That looks like old Herbology homework."

Harry's face heated up again. "I only have a few pieces of parchment left."

"I instructed you to pack all of your things. Why did you not bring all of your school supplies?"

"Sir?" Harry frowned and then looked over to the open trunk sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed. "This is all of my school things."

"You already went to Diagonalley to buy your school things for the year. That includes parchment Potter."

"Erm... we were going back later," Harry said. "I only got books, robes, and my Potions kit." It was a lie, they weren't going back later, but Harry had intended to find a way to get back after he'd worked and earned another paycheck.

Snape took a step into the small room and looked down disparagingly into Harry's school trunk. His new robes were folded neatly at one end, his new schoolbooks lined the other end, and his few items of summer clothing were in there. Aside from that there was a broken down cardboard shoebox with half a bottle of ink, several badly broken quills, a golden Snitch, his photo album, his empty money pouch, and a folder with some of Harry's homework he'd saved so he could use the backs of the parchment for notes.

"Where is the rest of your clothing?"

"This is it sir."

He didn't seem to believe him, but pursed his lips and didn't say anything more about it. "Eat your dinner."

Harry followed him out and found Chinese takeaway on the table. He must have gone out to get it or had it delivered. There were two plates with equal portions, and Harry looked around for a third plate with less on it, wondering where his was.

"What are you looking for Potter? There is a fork on your plate."

"Which one is mine sir?"

"Pick one Potter. You have school work to do and no time to be picky."

Snape picked up one of the two plates and took it to the patio to eat alone. Harry sat on a wooden stool at the counter and ate quickly. If Snape intended on giving him equal portions he wasn't going to complain. Maybe Snape meant to only feed him one meal a day, and if that was the case, Harry felt like he had to eat everything on the plate, even though it was more than he was used to after a month and a half at the Dursleys. He was done before Snape was (or maybe the man intended to stay out on his porch overlooking the alley until Harry was out of the living room and kitchen again), so Harry took his plate and fork to the sink and washed them by hand with the soap and sponge he found there. He didn't know where to put them away and didn't want to get yelled at for looking through the man's cupboards, so he took the hand towel and set it on the counter and put his plate face down on it with his fork to dry.

By the time Severus entered the living room half an hour later, Potter was gone. Where was the brat? His bedroom door was closed all but an inch again. He hadn't taken his food into the room after he'd been told not to, had he? Before he went in to check he spied a plate and fork on the counter by the sink though. After inspecting it and finding it clean, he turned and frowned at the boy's closed door again. He hadn't expected the brat to wash his plate. He wanted him to clean up after himself... had made it a rule even, but he hadn't expected the child to follow the rules without a fight. He hadn't expected him to finish eating so quickly either. After studying for hours (if he had indeed been studying hard as he'd said), he'd expected the boy to drag his feet eating dinner to get as long of a break as he could.

Severus pushed open the boy's door another inch though, and peered in for just a moment. He was at the desk reading and taking notes again. He pulled his face away from the door and went to find the book he was in the middle of so he could sit on the couch and settle in for the evening. Perhaps he'd scared the boy into following the rules, though he doubted it. Maybe it was just that he was in a new environment and finally under Severus' rule and he wanted to test the waters a bit before rebelling. That was the more likely scenario.

The boy's light shone under his door at ten when Severus went to his room for the evening, and he wondered if the boy was still studying, or just day dreaming or doodling or other things children did that wasted time. He hadn't set a bedtime, though if the boy thought he could stay up all night and sleep all day, he'd find himself sorely mistaken in the morning.

* * *

Severus knocked sharply on the boy's bedroom door the next morning at eight. There was no need for the child to be up too early in the summer, but heaven help him if he'd stayed up until four in the morning.

Harry got up and dressed and appeared in the living room after five minutes with two assignments in hand. He handed them to Snape, who took them warily. One was several feet of parchment, the appropriate length for a summer assignment, and the other was two feet of parchment.

"What is this Potter?" he asked.

"My Defense and Herbology essays," Harry said.

"There is no way you could complete these in one day. Rushing your assignments is why you start the year with such low grades each year." Each summer assignment was supposed to take days.

Harry had to clamp his mouth shut. He knew that was why he got bad grades but he'd gotten rather good at doing his work in a short amount of time and as efficiently as possible.

"Make yourself cereal for breakfast and go work on your other assignments," Snape said. "I will look over these and return them to you to re-do before lunch."

Harry did as he was told, again washing his bowl and spoon when he was done before disappearing into his room. Severus sipped his coffee and refused to look at the assignments until his first cup was completely finished. He just wanted twenty minutes to himself to relax before being stressed out by the brat's lack of effort on his schoolwork.

But after his coffee was gone and he had made it all the way through the Defense essay, he couldn't find fault with what the boy had written. A few words were spelled wrong, and the child could do with a lesson on using less commas in a sentence, but it was good work. He was certain whatever Defense professor Albus roped into working this year would give the boy an E at least.

His Herbology essay was the same. It was shorter than the Defense essay, but Pomona had assigned less to write about, and the essay had all the required information. The thought flashed across his mind that the boy had found a way to cheat, but he didn't have his owl with him to send away to his friends for help, and Severus had seen the boy taking notes.

He knocked on Potter's door and pushed it open. The boy looked up expectantly, a grimace on his face. He was expecting the worst. Or maybe he was grimacing because of the black eye.

"These are acceptable. I expect the same level of attention paid to the rest of your assignments." He held them out, and Harry took them.

"Yes sir."

Snape turned to go, but Harry said, "Sir, I can't finish the other assignments without parchment. I'm all out. Do you have some I could borrow?"

Severus' eyes turned to rake the trunk again, but the lid was closed this time.

"There's a stationer near the bookstore." He hesitated and then sighed, giving Harry a wary look and said, "I will have to show you Camden Alley eventually so that you can run errands. Put your shoes on and be on your best behavior while we are out."

"Yes sir."

There was one more door off of the living room. This one was the front door and led to a short hall with a set of stairs going down. They were several floors up and Harry followed Snape down the zig zagging stairs until they came out of a breezeway at the bottom and into the alley. Harry looked up several stories and spotted Snape's little balcony deck with black railing and viney plants hanging down over the sides.

Snape pointed out the apothecary again down the alley on the left, and then led Harry towards the other end of the alley towards the bookstore and stationer. He also pointed out the restaurants and coffee shops down the side alley to the right. There were several tables out on the sidewalk with people sitting and enjoying their morning coffee. It was only a few minutes walk down to the far end of the alley and to their destination as the alley was short.

"The stationer is here," Snape said, taking Harry into a door next to an arch covering a breezeway with a black gate at the far end. The narrow breezeway through the arch led under a tall building and at the far end Harry could see people walking on the street in Muggle London past the gate.

The stationary store was small. There was an old man sitting behind a counter, and supplies were in shelves and hanging on pegs on three walls. There was ink in several colors, and quills and parchment, but Harry was surprised to find Muggle lined notebooks as well as regular Muggle pens. Hermione used lined notebooks to take notes, and Harry really wanted one of those and a Muggle pen. It would save him time when taking notes and doing his assignments.

Snape didn't ask what Harry wanted, and bought a new bottle of black ink, a single quill, and five rolls of parchment. More than enough for Harry to finish his remaining summer assignments and take some notes with. He paid twenty sickles and led Harry back down the alley and to the flat.

He hoped the man would buy more supplies so he didn't have to borrow from his friends again all year, but didn't get his hopes up.

Harry worked all day again, finishing up his Potions and Transfiguration assignments and getting a start on his History of Magic essay, which would be short and easy to finish.

By the third day, Harry had finished all of his essays, including Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Snape seemed satisfied, and Harry hoped it would mean he could have a moment to himself to read the book the librarian had let him check out.

"There are four days until you return to your relatives. I expect you to keep yourself occupied. Perhaps it would be best if you spent some time studying so you can start the year ready to participate in classes. I expect your grades to be high this year."

"Yes sir." Harry turned to go back to his room. He was hoping to get some time to explore the little alley, but even if he did, he didn't have any money to spend and wouldn't until he could get back to his relatives house and collect the last paycheck coming to him from the library, that was if his uncle hadn't checked the mail and taken it.

"Sir?"

"What?" Snape didn't turn back to look at him, though Harry could hear the sigh the man bit back. His back was stiff, and Harry wondered for the hundredth time why the man would agree to take him on as an apprentice when he couldn't stand him.

"Is it ok if I spend some time reading one of my other books?"

Snape turned to him. "What other book?"

"A library book. A novel."

Snape waved him away. "Just keep yourself out of trouble. I will be unhappy when the term starts if I find that you are unprepared for your classes."

"Yes sir."

Harry retreated to the guest room and closed the door most of the way again. He pulled out the library book and sat down on the bed, happy for just a moment to have some time for himself (as happy as he could be in a situation like this), and settled in to read. He could lose himself in the story and forget about his life for a few hours before he had to start studying again.

* * *

Harry finished the library book quickly, and was sorry when he was through with it. He still had two days left until he went back to the freedom of Privet Drive. Snape said only what was necessary to him each day, which Harry was fine with, but it meant Harry grew bored quickly and ended up doing as Snape had suggested and reading through the first several chapters of his Defense book. At least he liked Defense and found what he was reading interesting, though he still would have rather been out exploring or reading a novel.

On the seventh morning, Snape woke Harry earlier than usual and instructed him to pack all of his belongings back into his trunk. "Do not leave anything. You are returning to your relatives."

When he was satisfied that Harry had left nothing behind in the guest room, Snape apparated him into the back yard of Four Privet Drive, startling Dudley who was out back drinking a fizzy drink despite that it was barely eight AM.

"Geez! Scared me Harry!" he half shouted, though he was giving the stern Potions Master a look of awe since he and Harry had just appeared out of thin air.

"I will return on Sunday at eight AM." He pulled a small book out of his pocket and handed it to Harry. The cover was worn and looked as though it was ready to fall off at any moment. "You are to have this memorized by the time I return." Without a word he apparated away, making Dudley startle again.

"How'd he do that?" he asked dumbly, pointing to the spot Snape had occupied only seconds before.

"He apparated. It's how adults travel."

"Can you do that?" he asked excitedly.

"I'm not an adult," Harry said, and dragged his trunk inside.

He was nearly to the stairs up to the second floor when his aunt came out of the kitchen and said, "So it's you again."

Harry turned and looked at her, trying to ignore the pang of sadness in his chest. He remembered how she had greeted their guests earlier in the summer, and wished for once she'd act happy to see him. Instead she let her eyes travel up to Harry's face, where his black eye was almost fully healed now that he'd been away for a full week.

"What was it like, living with him? With Snape."

"He lives in a nice flat in London," Harry said. "He made me do homework for seven days and barely spoke to me. He's coming back on Sunday morning."

"Don't anger your uncle this week," she snapped, eying the ever fading bruise around his eye, and turned sharply to go back into the kitchen.

"Yes aunt Petunia," Harry said dully, struggling to drag his heavy trunk up the stairs. He wasn't happy to be back, but he was happy to be away from Snape. As soon as his chores were finished he could head to the library, which opened in an hour, and check out some more books. He planned on having several with him the next time Snape came to get him.

* * *

Harry was able to avoid his uncle for most of the week by spending his days at the library until it closed. He did his chores early each morning and then left for the day. It meant he missed dinner each evening, but he didn't mind so long as it meant he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased.

The book Snape had given him was, ‘The Authoritative Field Guide To Scottish Fungi Useful To Potion Making.' With a full week to go over it, Harry was free to spend a little time each evening going over the pocket book, which was only twenty pages long. Each page had pictures of two fungi as well as their uses and where to find them. He had trouble pronouncing some of the names, but made sure to memorize what each looked like and as much of the information as he could. He knew Snape would probably test him on the information and didn't want to get yelled at, though that was an inevitability.

One evening the book even got him out of extra chores. "Wash the car boy. It needs to be shining. I have an important meeting to drive to tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes sir."

"What's that you're reading?" he asked as Harry stood up from his spot in the backyard on the grass.

"A potions book I have to memorize by Sunday."

"That Snape character assigned you to read it?" his uncle asked.

"Yes sir."

"Sit down and study. I'll take the car through the car wash."

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. His uncle never wanted him to study... never wanted him to do his summer homework. Now he was letting him out of chores to do it?

"Do as I said," he gruffed, and Harry sat back down on the grass as his uncle went inside. He supposed it made some sense, if his uncle was trying to ensure he was out of the house as soon as he turned 17. That was what the entire apprenticeship was about, wasn't it? Ensuring Harry had a future with a job that would keep him out of his aunt and uncle's life?

Harry stared at the fungus guide for half an hour, not studying at all. He didn't want to be at Privet Drive any longer than he had to be, but it still hurt that they wanted him gone as soon as possible.

Snape came inside when Harry opened the door, asked if Harry had all of his belongings in the trunk, and then took his arm.

"See you Harry!" Dudley said enthusiastically, and before Harry could wonder if Dudley was happy to see him gone, or had genuinely started to like him as he claimed, Snape apparated them away, causing a shout of awe from his cousin.

When they reappeared, they were in Snape's flat again.

"Put your things in your room and bring the field guide to the living room."

Just as Harry suspected, the man was planning on testing him, though Harry was confident he'd memorized all of the relevant details in the guide. Snape didn't start quizzing him when he came out of the room with the fungus field guide a minute later however. Instead he said, "We will be spending the next several days collecting fungus in the highlands and moors." He handed Harry a pair of Muggle garden gloves, two small cloth sacks, and a pair of garden snips.

"Do not lose these. These are your tools, which you will care for and keep clean at all times." Snape had his own gloves, snips and bags. His looked used, and Harry's looked new.

He held out his arm and when Harry didn't take it, he glared at him. Harry reached forward and took his arm, and a moment later found himself on a foggy windswept moor with gentle hills rising up on either side of him. There was a rocky stream next to them that was only a few inches deep.

"We are looking for chip cherries and crimson waxcap. Tell me about each."

Harry frowned. So he was getting tested after all. "Chip cherries are orangy red and caplike. They're found growing in wood chips and grassy areas. Crimson waxcap are bright red with a little crown. They're usually found in mown turf later in the summer." Harry looked around the grassy area they were in. It was only July and there was no mown turf on the moor.

"Why are we looking for crimson waxcap here if it only appears in mown areas and from August to September?" Snape asked.

Harry shook his head. He really didn't know. He spied a mushroom a little ways off in the grass that looked sort of like the photo of crimson waxcap, but it wasn't as bright red and it had yellow at the edges.

"Do we need to pick them young for something?" Harry asked.

Snape pursed his lips and said, "This is an area I come to to pick them young. They are best powdered when young. Do not share this location for gathering mushrooms with anyone else."

"Yes sir."

"Use your gloves and do not touch your face or mouth with your gloves on after picking mushrooms. Use one bag for the crimson waxcaps and the other for the chip cherries. You will spoil everything you collect if you mix the bags up."

"Yes sir."

Harry was glad the test was over and got on his hands and knees near the stream to work. At least he was outside, and this wasn't backbreaking labor. He loved being outdoors, and getting to come out to a Scottish moor was a treat, whether Snape meant it to be or not. It turned out that Snape wasn't done quizzing him though. A few minutes after they'd started working, Snape called to him from twenty feet away where he was harvesting a patch of chip cherries, "Tell me the uses of chip cherries in potions."

Harry wasn't too sure about the answer. The fungus guide was vague about potions uses and had spent most of each page describing how they looked and where they could be found as well as detailing which ones were the most poisonous.

"They're edible when cooked," Harry said. That was the only thing he could remember from the fungus guide. "And we used them last year in Potions class for a debriding potion."

"What does a debriding potion do?"

"Removes damaged tissues... cleans a wound out."

"What other medicinal uses might it be used for then?"

"I don't know sir."

The man sighed but must have held back the biting remark Harry was sure was there for him. Instead he said, "I require maximum effort in your potions duties and lessons. That includes putting thought into questions that are asked of you."

"Antiseptic potions?" Harry asked, hoping it was enough of an answer to get the man to leave him alone. He could enjoy being out here collecting mushrooms if Snape wasn't yelling at him all day.

"The gills are used in certain antiseptic potions, and the cap without the gills is used in several household cleaning potions."

Harry repeated the information he'd been given in his head, sure he'd be quizzed about it again later.

"Chip cherries look similar to several other species of mushrooms that produce hallucinogenic effects. Be certain when collecting in areas like New Zealand and Australia that you are collecting chip cherries and not something else."

"Yes sir."

Snape let Harry collect mushrooms in silence for twenty minutes before starting to quiz him again. Harry had moved to the other side of the little stream, and was enjoying the sound of running water. He had filled half of one sack with chip cherries, and had collected a few yellowy crimson waxcaps as well.

"Are crimson waxcaps edible?" Snape asked just as Harry had reached a little patch of them.

"Yes?"

"Are you certain?"

Harry hesitated as he picked one and put it in his waxcap bag.

"No." He was afraid to say yes, have Snape demand he eat one to test it, and have it turn out to be poisonous.

"They will give you an upset stomach. Even if they were edible, they are difficult to identify most of the time and easily confused with other mushrooms which are poisonous."

"How can we be sure these are crimson waxcaps then?" Harry asked.

"Because I planted them here several years ago and come back regularly to harvest them when they are young."

"Oh."

"They don't grow well in a regulated environment. Many have tried, but they are best found in the wild. They're a common enough ingredient in potions, yet difficult to grow. They bring a fair price when sold to the right apothecary. Tell me what they are used for in potions."

"A binding agent," Harry said. He hadn't used crimson waxcap before, but they used other types of waxcap in potions class.

"How do you know?" Snape asked. Harry thought he would have snapped it at him, but he sounded as though he wanted to be certain Harry knew why.

"We use meadow waxcaps and snowy waxcaps in Potions class as binding agents."

"Are they interchangeable? Can you use crimson waxcap instead of snowy waxcap?"

"I don't know," Harry said. They never did anything other than follow the exact ingredients given to them for each potion they were supposed to brew.

"Each type of waxcap lends a different degree of thickening to a potion. Meadow and snowy waxcaps are the easiest to find and therefore the cheapest. They're the most often used. However, crimson waxcaps bind better to most ingredients than snowy and meadow waxcaps do, therefore less of crimson waxcap must be used. Approximately a fifth as much as meadow or snowy waxcap. It is best when substituting waxcap to start out with as little as possible and add more as needed to get the desired thickness."

"Huh." That was actually sort of interesting, and Harry wondered if Hermione knew that. Hermione was very strict about things like following the rules, and in Potions about following the recipe exactly. She might explode if she saw Harry trying to substitute potions ingredients, though crimson waxcap wasn't something in the student supply cupboard so he didn't think he'd have a chance to see if he could make her freak out.

"From what you've just been told, and what you know of using snowy and meadow waxcaps in class, what can you tell me about each of those?"

As he pulled up another chip cherry, Harry said, "I think we use less of meadow waxcap than snowy waxcap." He paused then as he thought about it, and said, "wait, I think it depends on the potion. We were using snowy waxcap in an anti-freezing potion last year, and in first year in a potion we were going to use as a base for a potion that regulates temperature. We don't use snowy waxcap too much in other types of potions. We used it in Polyjuice though and had to use a lot of it... way more than we usually use of meadow waxcap in potions and more than we used in the temperature regulating potions."

"We have never brewed Polyjuice Potter," Snape said.

Harry froze, hand over a clump of grass he was trying to pull up to get at a crimson waxcap. "Oh," he said, "yeah, not sure what I was thinking. There was some other potion that sounds like that, wasn't there?" he asked.

"You are a terrible liar," Snape sneered from somewhere behind him across the stream where he was working up a large patch of chip cherries.

Harry waited for the man to yell at him about illegally brewing potions in the girls loo, but he didn't, and Harry grinned to himself since Snape couldn't see him. Maybe he just didn't believe Harry could brew polyjuice and didn't know what Harry was ‘lying' about, so he had decided to leave him alone. Or maybe Harry would just drop some more hints later on to make Snape think he had a stock of polyjuice on him to use whenever he wanted.

They collected mushrooms until the fog lifted around noon before Snape apparated them back to the flat. He made Harry take his gloves off and then wash his hands (twice), before he pulled out an old copy of the Daily Prophet and spread it out on the counter. Snape took Harry's bags and dumped them into two separate piles on the newspaper, and Harry was glad to see that he hadn't mixed the bags up on accident. Snape also dumped his two bags onto Harry's piles.

He disappeared into his room for a few moments and came back out with two glass containers. Into one he put a handful of crimson waxcaps, and into the other he put a handful of chip cherries. Then he pointed at the pile of waxcaps still on the newspaper and said, "This pile should fetch around forty sickles." He pointed at the chip cherries and said, "This should fetch two galleons."

"Two galleons just for that?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yes."

Still wearing his gloves, Snape rolled the chip cherries up in one piece of newspaper, folded the ends over to keep them in, and tied it with a piece of twine. Then he did the same in another piece of newspaper with the crimson waxcaps.

Taking his gloves off, he looked across the kitchen counter at Harry. "Do you remember where the apothecary is?"

"At the end of the alley to the left."

"Yes." Snape looked back down to the wrapped mushrooms, and then back up at Harry. His tone dropped and became serious, like Harry was in trouble, though Harry couldn't think what he might be in trouble for.

"You are to take these two bundles to the apothecary, and wait until he has time to see you. Do not barge to the front of the line and demand to be seen." He gave Harry a hard look as he said this, as if certain Harry was a rude little monster. Harry wanted to shrink away from the look, but didn't because he wasn't rude and hadn't done anything wrong.

"Tell him you have ingredients to sell. Do not accept less than 35 sickles for the waxcaps, and do not accept less than a galleon and 40 sickles for the chip cherries. Repeat it back to me."

"35 sickles for the waxcaps, a galleon and 40 sickles for the chip cherries."

"Get more if you can for them," Snape said. Then his tone dropped again to that one he held when Harry was in serious trouble. "It is important that you are not rude. If you are, it will reflect poorly on me as your Potions Master. You could get yourself or the both of us banned not only from this apothecary, but from others as well. The potions community is tight knit and word spreads quickly. There will be swift and severe punishment if I hear that either of us have been banned from any apothecary, or that you have been rude. They won't hesitate to inform me of either."

"I'll be respectful," Harry said.

Snape looked at him as though he seriously doubted it.

"Do not make me regret sending you to do errands on your own. As a potions apprentice it is expected that you will frequently run errands, especially to apothecaries, as that is how you will learn. If I were to go with you for such a simple task, that would also reflect poorly on me, but more poorly on you. You would not be trusted by apothecaries or potions masters anywhere if I were to hold your hand for a simple trip to sell waxcaps and chip cherries. If you prove to me that you cannot be trusted with such a simple task, I will have no other recourse but to accompany you in the future for simple trips."

"I'll get it right," Harry said quietly.

"Go then." He waved towards the door, and Harry gathered the two newspaper bundles and left, feeling nervous now that Snape had threatened to punish him. Harry thought about his bony knuckles again and how much they would hurt if the man hit him. If Harry got the man banned from an apothecary, (or all of them), he would definitely make Harry pay. Harry shuddered as he made his way down the alley to the back end and to the apothecary shop.

Snape almost made it sound as though the potions masters and apothecaries had some sort of network... like any mistake he made would be sent out by owl right away to all the others. Who knew, maybe there was a system like that in place. There must be if Snape was so adamant that Harry be on his best behavior. Though Snape was also certain Harry was a rude kid who bullied others, so maybe not.

Steeling himself, Harry entered the apothecary, a little bell ringing overhead. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust from the bright sunlight outside. There was a woman with a little girl purchasing something at the counter, and an elderly man measuring out a scoop of something he wanted to purchase into a little bag next to the front window.

Harry waited patiently for his turn. The man behind the counter was probably ten years older than Snape and had a stern though not unfriendly look about him. When he was done ringing up the woman and her daughter, he motioned to Harry to come forward, but Harry was eying the elderly man, who was now done gathering his purchase.

"You could go sir, I mean, please go in front of me."

The man gave Harry an appreciative nod and stepped up to the counter with his bag of whatever he had scooped out of the jar. He paid two knuts and left. Now that the shop was empty of customers, Harry stepped up to the counter.

"What have you got there?" the man asked as Harry set the two packages on the counter.

"A package of crimson waxcaps and a package of chip cherries."

"Crimson waxcaps," the man said appreciatively, untying the twine on both newspaper packages to let them fall open. "Quite a large batch. They look fresh. Where did you get them?"

"Professor Snape grew them. I'm not allowed to say where sir."

The man nodded as though he expected such an answer.

"Collect them this morning?" he asked, looking up at Harry.

"Yes sir."

He put on a pair of gloves similar to the ones Harry had worn that morning while harvesting the mushrooms, and scooped the chip cherries onto a scale. Onto a separate scale he scooped the crimson waxcaps.

"One galleon, twenty five sickles for the chip cherries, and 35 sickles for the crimson waxcaps."

Harry bit his lip for a moment. That was far less than he was supposed to get for the chip cherries.

"The chip cherries are hard to find," Harry said. "This is from a batch that was planted three years ago and have been harvested carefully for years."

"You think they're worth more than a galleon twenty?" the man asked.

"I'd appreciate if I could get two galleons out of them sir."

"Two galleons? Not at this shop."

Harry bit his lip, looked at the chip cherries, and then back up at the man. "A galleon and 45 sickles?"

"Are you asking or telling?"

"Asking sir."

He shook his head. "These are your ingredients. You harvested them," he explained. "If you have to get more out of them, then you have to. I can tell you what I'll pay for them, but you're the one that determines what they're worth, do you understand? Don't ask me what they're worth, tell me."

"They're worth two galleons sir. I couldn't take less than a galleon and 45 sickles." It wasn't quite true, Snape had said a galleon and forty, but he had told Harry they were worth two galleons.

"And what are these crimson waxcaps worth?" the man asked.

"40 sickles," Harry said.

"So I've offered you far below what you need for the chip cherries, and five sickles below what you need for the crimson waxcaps. What will you do?" The man didn't seem like he was trying to cheat Harry out of money. He seemed like he was trying to teach him how he was supposed to conduct business. Harry had never sold potion ingredients before. He'd only been into the apothecary on Diagon Alley a handful of times to buy his student potions kit, and that had a set price. There was no haggling for student potion supplies.

When Harry didn't answer, the man said, "How about you tell me about the chip cherries and crimson waxcaps? Maybe if I know how important they are, I'll have to pay full price."

Harry looked back up at him. "Chip cherries are hard to come by. They're used in debriding potions, antiseptic potions, and many household cleaning potions. We've picked these ones young so they can be powdered, because young chip cherries work best when powdering them. These are high quality and took a lot of time to grow and collect. Crimson waxcaps are a better binding agent than other waxcaps because you have to use less in a potion to thicken it, and they're rarer to find than meadow and snowy waxcaps." Was this why Snape had made him learn all of this while they collected mushrooms that morning? Did he know Harry was going to get quizzed at the apothecary? Maybe it was another test and he had set this up just to see if Harry would be rude and demand a higher price, or maybe he knew the man that ran the apothecary on Camden Alley would try to test his knowledge.

The man leaned across the counter, gave Harry a close looking over, and said, "what part of the chip cherries is used in antiseptic potions?"

Harry froze. It was the cap or the gills, but now he couldn't remember which. One was used for antiseptic potions, and the other for cleaning potions. He had a fifty fifty chance of getting it right, but worried he'd wreck the deal if he got it wrong. Uncle Vernon always talked about how important business deals were, and went out of his way to impress potential clients, and his boss. Harry would neither impress Snape or this man if he got the answer wrong.

"I'm not sure sir," he said, deciding to tell him the truth. "The gills are used either for cleaning potions or antiseptic potions, and the cap is used for either cleaning or antiseptic potions, but I don't remember which is which."

The man studied him and then said in a friendly voice, "The gills are for antiseptic potions. The cap for cleaning potions. Don't forget. If you try to throw the caps into an antiseptic potion you'll end up with a mess."

"Yes sir. I won't forget. The gills are for antiseptic."

The man scooped the mushrooms off the scales and into two separate glass containers, setting them on the counter behind him.

"I'll give you a galleon forty for the chip cherries, but only 35 for the crimson waxcaps."

"Thank you."

"Thank you young apprentice. Tell Severus I'm low on fluted bird's nest if he has a good place to find some."

"Yes sir."

He opened the till and counted out coins, which he dropped into Harry's hand. "I didn't realize Severus had taken on an apprentice." His eyes flickered up to Harry's scar, though he didn't mention it, and his eyes didn't linger overlong there.

Harry didn't know what to say to that. Somehow, ‘my relatives wanted to get rid of me and pushed me off on Snape' didn't sound appropriate, especially if what Snape said about reputation in the potions community was true. Instead Harry said, "I needed the help."

"I see. I'll be seeing you soon," the man said. Harry gave him a nod, thanked him again, and left the apothecary, hurrying back to Snape's third floor flat, though he wished he could explore the alley instead.

Snape seemed to be a ball of stress when Harry returned to the flat. His eyes snapped over to Harry from the kitchen and he practically demanded to hear how the encounter had gone at the apothecary.

Harry handed him the coins and described what he could, as well as passed the message along about the fluted bird's nest.

"And what did he say when you left?"

Harry frowned. "I think he said he'd see me again or something like that. I'll see you soon, I think he said."

Snape finally relaxed, the tension leaving his shoulders and posture.

He turned to the money on the counter and said, "Apprentices do not always get paid. However," he paused, looked like he regretted whatever he was going to say, and said, "I do not hold with not paying an apprentice for work." He pushed twenty sickles towards Harry and then swept the rest of the money off the counter and into his pocket. "You will not be paid for every task, and the wage is non-negotiable. You may however spend your money how you wish."

"Thanks," Harry said quietly, feeling like the encounter was awkward. Snape shot him a glare however, and Harry added, "sir."

Snape instructed Harry to use several specific spells on the inside and outside of the two fungus bags and his gloves and garden snips, and told him he had to use those spells on all of his harvesting equipment whenever he was done with them. Then he gave Harry a small wooden box and told him to keep his harvesting equipment in the box when not in use, and not to lose it. "The box will stay here when you are with your relatives."

"Yes sir."

Harry took the box to his room and put it on the floor just under the edge of his bed. He had two library books with him to read this time, but his mind was too busy with the events of the day and was racing back through collecting mushrooms, which hadn't been terrible, and then his first trip to the apothecary to sell ingredients. He decided to venture into the living room to talk to Snape. So far during his time there he'd tried to keep to himself in his room, and Snape had seemed glad for it, but Harry wanted to know why the apothecary had taught him instead of trying to haggle down for a lower price.

"Sir?"

Snape stiffened, the tension from earlier coming back into his body. He was still in the kitchen, this time writing something down in what looked like a journal or ledger.

"What is it?" He didn't look at Harry when he came around to sit on the stool he usually used when he ate meals at the counter.

"Why did the apothecary try to teach me instead of trying to haggle me down to a lower price? He could have just refused to buy from me."

Snape stopped writing and looked up at him, his black eyes piercing Harry. Harry wanted to flinch away. He didn't like making eye contact if he could avoid it. Years of punishments at the Dursleys demanded he look away, or look down at his hands or feet.

"Because you're an apprentice. You must have mentioned my name to him or said you were an apprentice for him to have come to that conclusion."

"But that doesn't explain why he was teaching me."

"I told you already, the Potions community is tight knit. Apprentices enjoy a certain position in the community. While he may have tried to drive a harder bargain if I had gone in, or if a regular person selling ingredients went in, he saw it as his duty to educate you as an apprentice. Apprentices are seen as the future of the potions community, so every potions master, every apothecary will see it as their duty to educate you. That is why it is so important to be respectful. If you anger one of them, the entire community could shut you out, and me as well for failing to teach you how things are."

He looked back up at Harry from the ledger he'd been writing the transaction in. "The same cannot be said of all apprentices. There is some amount of competition between apprentices. Some serve two years with one master, then go on to serve another two years with another, and then two more years with another. Apprentices try to distinguish themselves in the eyes of their masters and the community to secure better opportunities for themselves, and to make a name for themselves before they gain their mastery. Not all apprentices are... cut-throat," he said, eyes narrowed at Harry as though he was one of the bad ones, "but you would be wise to scrutinize everything other potions apprentices tell you instead of blindly taking them at their word. You are one of the youngest currently apprenticed. Many are older than you, but will not hesitate to feed you mis-information."

"Yes sir."

Harry went back to his room and spent the afternoon thinking over all the new information. He'd had no idea that there was this sub-community in the wizarding world that had its own rules and codes. He wondered if it was the same with auror apprentices, or with apprentices in other fields. He didn't know any aurors he could ask though. He'd never even met a potions apprentice before, and he couldn't imagine some other kid like him trying to get him in trouble or giving him information that could. An image of Draco Malfoy flashed through his mind just then, and Harry sincerely hoped that Draco would never get an apprenticeship in potions, or that if he did it would be long after Harry was done with his two year apprenticeship. The only consoling thought Harry could come up with in regards to Draco, was that he had a mother and father who wanted him, so Draco would never get signed over to some random Potions Master unless he set up the apprenticeship himself after he was 17.

* * *

For the next two days Snape took Harry to different highlands and moors in Scotland looking for a variety of fungus. They collected three sacks of spindly white fairy fingers one morning, and later that afternoon miles away found a huge beefsteak polypore that Snape said was worth three galleons all by itself. The next morning Harry was knee deep in a bog trying to search through the fog for rosy bonnet and after dark that night they went to a muggle park in the east searching for white angel's wings. Snape kept some of each of their finds except the beefsteak polypore, and sent Harry to the apothecary with the rest and an approximate price he should get for each.

Harry didn't always get the amount Snape wanted, but he must have done well enough because Snape only grouched at him a little when he came back with less than he should have. And each time Harry went to the apothecary over the next few days, the apothecary owner always asked him about each of the fungi Harry was selling and their uses. Harry thought that by the end of that three days he'd spent with Snape, he could write a paper about fungi that was several feet long. Between the field guide, Snape teaching him as they collected mushrooms, and the apothecary asking him to tell him about each item he was selling, Harry was certain the information was firmly rooted in his brain. It was only too bad that Snape rarely asked for essays about mushrooms in class.

"How's he supposed to teach you what you need to know in only three days?" Vernon gruffed.

"We traveled Scotland gathering and learning about ingredients and selling them to the apothecary. I had to memorize a lot of things, and I had to learn to sell what we were harvesting."

Vernon only grunted in response, and over the next couple days seemed agitated that Harry was there at all. Harry didn't get to go to the library because his uncle had assigned Harry every chore known to man to ensure he was kept busy and ‘out of aunt Petunia's hair'. Aunt Petunia didn't seem to mind Harry being back, and ignored him like she usually did.

Harry spent three days mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, washing the car, organizing the shed, organizing the attic, dusting the house, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing down the bricks on the outside of the house, cleaning the fireplace, cleaning the gutters, washing windows, and scrubbing toilets. There were more things on the list that Harry didn't have time to get to, and each day his uncle gruffed at him that he was being lazy and slow and that he was expected to get through all of his chores. That was difficult when each day his uncle added more chores to the neverending list however.

By the end of the third day, his uncle had worked himself up so much about Harry's ‘laziness' that he slammed Harry into the side of the house. Harry's arm hit the bricks with such force as he was slammed sideways into the house that he felt the bone crack. His uncle didn't hit him, or pull him back to slam him sideways into the bricks again. He shouted at Harry to finish all his chores and stalked off into the house to watch the telly, leaving Harry there breathing hard and reeling from the pain. He'd broken bones before, but it had been a long time. The last time had been during a Quidditch match at Hogwarts, and Madam Pomfrey had been able to heal the bone in minutes. He had no access to the Hogwarts infirmary now though, and he doubted his aunt and uncle would take him to the hospital to get it x-rayed and into a cast. He also didn't know when Snape was coming back to get him, as the man hadn't said, though he had already made up his mind not to tell the man about it. He would only accuse Harry of fighting and causing trouble, or worse yet, side with Harry's uncle about him being lazy and say he deserved what he got.

Harry waited a few minutes and made his way into the house, cradling his arm to his body. It was getting dark out and he wouldn't be able to do chores outside for much longer anyway. He found his aunt in the kitchen, and decided to ask for some Paracetamol. While she liked to ignore Harry and pretend he didn't exist, she always warned him if his uncle was in a bad mood and often told him to stay on his good side, chastizing him if he raised his ire. While she didn't love Harry, he hoped it meant she didn't like seeing him get hurt.

"Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked quietly. She turned from the dishes she was doing in the sink and looked at the grimace of pain on his face.

"What have you done now boy?"

"Could I have some Paracetamol?"

Her eyes drifted down to how he was cradling his arm. A moment later she went to a cupboard without a word and pulled out the bottle of pain killers and put two of them on the counter. She filled a glass of water and set it on the counter for Harry. It was one of the few kindnesses she had ever done for him.

After Harry took the two pills she chastised him quietly with, "I warned you not to make him angry."

"I'm not sure there was anything I could do to avoid it."

She was quiet for a moment. "See if you can stay with Snape longer next time."

"I don't have a choice."

She didn't say anything else, and turned back to what she had been doing before Harry came into the kitchen.

Harry went to bed hungry that night, because he'd been busy doing work outside during dinner, and his arm throbbed as he lay in bed staring at the dark ceiling. Snape got mad at Harry even more often than his uncle did. He hadn't thrown Harry into a wall or hit him yet, but Harry was certain that was coming eventually. His last two trips to stay with Snape hadn't been fun but they hadn't been downright miserable either. Snape was constantly on him about something and always had the wrong idea about him. Just like at home with his relatives Harry felt like he had to walk on eggshells to avoid getting in trouble. He sighed. Going to stay with Snape longer wouldn't be any better than being there in Little Whinging, even if that was what his aunt and uncle wanted.

* * *

Harry's arm throbbed constantly the next day. His uncle was at work and his aunt set him to light chores that he only needed one hand to complete. He dusted the mantle and picture frames with his left hand, washed the kitchen window inside and outside, and cleaned the outside of all the kitchen cabinets. Vernon seemed to be satisfied with the punishment he'd dealt to Harry the night before, because he didn't say anything to him at all about not completing his uncle's list of chores that day. That evening Harry received an owl that Snape would be there in the morning to take him for several more days, and to be ready by eight. Harry barely slept, arm hurting, and wondering how he was going to hide it from Snape.

The next morning Harry rose early at six and pulled on an old hoodie that had small holes around the hem and didn't fit well anymore. It was getting thin from overuse so he hoped it wouldn't be too hot to wear since it was still summer. His plan was to wear it the entire time he was with Snape. The long sleeves would cover up the huge bruise on his broken right arm, and he could put his hand in the large front pocket of the hoodie and try to use it like a sling, poor as it was, to keep his arm still.

Harry didn't know how he was going to get his trunk downstairs with just one arm. Snape was due to arrive in a few minutes and Harry was certain he'd be yelled at for not having his trunk ready to go by the front door. Against his better judgment, he went to the room next door and knocked. Dudley opened the door and looked surprised to see his cousin there. While Dudley's behavior had changed for the better that summer towards Harry, Harry had been kept so busy with chores lately that he had barely seen his cousin, who was often out of the house with his friends.

"Erm- I can't get my trunk downstairs by myself right now."

Dudley's eyes traveled to his cousin's arm and how he had his hand tucked into the front pocket of the hoodie to keep it still. He didn't know if Dudley knew he'd broken it. "Yeah, ok," he said. "Too bad you can't use your wand outside of school."

He came into the hallway and then into Harry's room next door to lift one end of the trunk. "I can when I'm with Snape."

"What's the spell to lift this up?"

"There's one to levitate it," Harry said, using his good hand to lift the other end as they took it into the hallway, "or there's one to shrink it down to fit in my pocket, or one to make it light enough to carry with one hand."

"Cool."

"I think there's one to just send it away to wherever I want it to go too, but I don't know that one yet."

They quieted as they reached the bottom of the stairs, both boys knowing they'd be scolded for talking about magic if Petunia heard, though Vernon didn't seem to mind much anymore. Harry suspected he was still trying to pick up tidbits of knowledge so he'd have new things to talk about with his boss.

They set the trunk down by the front door, and almost as if on cue, the doorbell rang and Dudley went to open it, once again eager to see Harry and Snape apparate away.

Snape didn't ask if Harry had all of his things this time. He merely noted that Harry had his trunk. Harry used his good hand to pick up the trunk and grimaced as Snape took his injured arm in hand, and apparated them to the flat above Camden Alley. Harry sucked in a deep breath as soon as they arrived, dismayed at the pain flaring through his arm.

"Put your trunk in your room. We have brewing to do today."

Harry was glad to have use of his wand, though he found it awkward using his left hand, and it took him a couple tries to get the movement down to cast the levitation charm. In his room, he found a stack of muggle lined notebooks on his desk, along with two packages of muggle pens, and a pack of pencils. It looked like enough to get him through the school year. There was also a box with rolls of parchment on the floor. Snape appeared in his doorway a moment later.

"That should be enough to get you through the school year. If you run out during the year, you are to tell me so I can get the supplies you need."

Harry turned to him, mood feeling lighter than it had in days because he was relieved to have what he needed for school. "Thank you sir."

"What else do you require for school aside from clothing?"

"A backpack." Snape gave a single nod and left the room. Harry followed him a moment later after he'd dug his dragonhide gloves out of his trunk, and found Snape in the kitchen, setting up a small cauldron on the counter.

"You are not to brew without my supervision until I tell you otherwise," Snape said. He eyed Harry's very used dragonhide gloves and held out his hands for them. When Harry handed them over he was dismayed to see the man toss them in the rubbish bin. He let his mouth hang open for a moment, but Snape pulled open a kitchen drawer that had miscellaneous brewing items and handed Harry a brand new pair of black dragonhide gloves. His old ones had been student grade and had been brown. Usually students got new ones every couple of years, but Harry's were four years old. These black ones were thicker and much nicer.

"Apprentice grade gloves," Snape said. "These are yours. You will keep them with your brewing items and take them to school. Do not brew without these."

"Thank you," Harry said, feeling stunned. Despite the pain in his arm, and the misery he felt at not knowing when and how his arm was going to get healed, he felt a light flutter of happiness come over him momentarily at getting nice new gloves, just as he had minutes before at seeing the new school supplies.

He was careful to pull a glove over his right hand, and struggled to get the other onto his left hand without causing his right arm too much pain. Once they were on though he marveled at how light they felt. His old dragonhide gloves were heavy despite being thin. These were thick, and would protect his hands much better, but felt light weight, almost like he wasn't wearing gloves at all. They were soft inside and didn't make his hands hot to wear like his old ones had.

Snape had a first year potions book out and was flipping through the pages. He also had a piece of parchment with a list of twenty or more potions listed in his loopy cursive. "You will be re-brewing every potion you have ever failed in class until I am satisfied you can brew it on your own."

Harry raised his brows, surprised. He generally wasn't all that bad at potions. Some potions he had failed because Draco had thrown random ingredients into his cauldron, and others he'd failed because of things out of his control, like hearing a basilisk in the walls during Potions class. He'd only failed a few the previous year because he just hadn't understood the material.

"Why do you look surprised?" Snape said.

"I- I'm not sir. I'm ready."

"Bruise balm is the first on the list. It takes twenty minutes to brew. If you do it incorrectly you will be doing it again until you have it right."

Harry looked over the list of ingredients in the first year text book and the instructions as Snape began pulling out potions supplies from a cupboard Harry hadn't seen into yet. This was an easy first year potion and Harry thought back trying to remember why he'd gotten a poor grade on this, but so many years had passed he couldn't think of a reason. This potion didn't even require him to chop anything up. He just had to measure five ingredients, add them into the cauldron at the right time, and make sure he stirred the correct amount of times clockwise and counter clockwise. At the end of the twenty minutes, he had a thick white balm ready to scoop into a container for use.

"This is acceptable," Snape said. He didn't seem pleased, but he didn't seem angry either. He pulled out a second small cauldron from the cupboard under the kitchen sink and set it on the other end of the counter, and instructed Harry to move to the second potion on the list (giggle juice). While Harry set to work carefully chopping up dandelion stalks, hoping if he moved slowly he wouldn't agitate his broken arm, Snape filled five tins with the bruise balm Harry had made and set to cleansing the cauldron so it could be used on the next potion.

By that evening Harry had completed the five first year potions he'd gotten poor grades on. Snape never praised him, only said, ‘this is acceptable' each time Harry finished a potion, and told him to move on to the next.

The man ordered takeout for dinner, and after the counter was cleaned of potions ingredients and fully cleansed with multiple cleaning agents and spells, they ate silently next to each other on the two stools. It was the first time they'd eaten together, and they spent the ten minutes in silence. Snape told him to go to his room and study for the evening, though he didn't tell Harry what to study.

Harry propped himself up on his bed against the wall, and put his pillow next to him to rest his arm on. It hurt from being held down at his side all day, hand tucked into his hoodie pocket. Harry was happy to have the hoodie off of him so he could cool off. His door was closed all the way and because it was the evening he felt sure Snape wouldn't call him out again until the morning, so there was no need to hide the mottled black and blue bruising on his arm.

Tired of potions, Harry decided not to study his new potions textbook, and instead opened up his Defense text again. He was seven chapters into it now. With no library books to keep him occupied this time, he thought he had a good chance of making it all the way through the Defense text by the end of the summer.

* * *

Harry sped through the second and third year potions he needed to re-brew on the second day, though his arm hurt a lot from all the ingredients he'd had to chop. He'd found a good way to hold the knife so it didn't hurt his arm, but it meant holding his arm at an awkward angle and that did hurt after a while.

On his third day Harry struggled with the five fourth year potions he had to re-brew, because these were the ones he didn't understand. After failing the first potion three times, and failing to answer Snape's questions satisfactorily about why he kept messing it up, the man had sighed and ended up re-teaching Harry the entire lesson from fourth year about the importance of getting the correct ratio of kinsap oil to wormwood powder. "It will always be a four to three ratio no matter what potion you brew. Any potion with kinsap oil and wormwood powder will have four parts kinsap to three parts wormwood powder. You can put any amount over the minimum for that potion of kinsap, as long as you match it with three parts as much wormwood powder."

It was a trying day for both of them, but Harry made it through all five potions, even though it meant he didn't finish until eight that evening. They ate a late dinner and Harry skipped studying defense that evening to go straight to bed. He wanted to forget the jolts of pain that kept getting sent up his arm whenever he moved it the wrong way and just go to sleep, even though it was only nine.

The next morning Harry woke before Snape knocked on his door. It was seven, and Harry was tired. His arm kept waking him up throughout the night every time he shifted in bed the wrong way in his sleep. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat in bed for a few minutes, wondering what he'd be brewing that day. They'd made it through all of his past failed potions. Did that mean they were moving on to new potions, or did it mean Snape was taking him back to his relatives? His uncle would be upset with him for coming back so soon again.

At eight Snape knocked on Harry's door and it swung open, because Harry had already pulled it open an inch when he'd woken earlier. He already had his hoodie on, though he hadn't brushed his hair yet.

Snape eyed him carefully. "How late did you stay up last night?"

"I went to bed at nine."

"Doubtful. You look as though you stayed up until the sun rose." His eyes swept over Harry's messy hair, the dark circles under his eyes, and the vacant look on his face.

"I didn't sir. I'm ready for whatever we're brewing today."

Harry stood up but Snape just stared at him for a few more seconds, then said, "No. If you blow up the block of flats because you're too tired to differentiate one ingredient from another it will reflect poorly on me. The apothecary at the end of the alley will report that I've run you ragged."

Harry laughed at the thought, and then laughed again at the dark look Snape sent him.

"Read a library book and rest."

He turned to leave, but Harry said, "I don't have a library book sir."

The man turned back and said with a heavy sigh, "Why pray tell did you decide not to bring one this time?"

"I didn't get to go to the library this week. Is there one here I can go to?"

"Not on the alley."

Harry wanted to ask to go to the bookstore, but decided against it. If it was something he wanted to do, he thought Snape would deny his request outright. He was surprised when Snape's eyes raked over his appearance again though and the man said, "Do you have your money from the sales to the apothecary last week?"

"Yes sir."

"If you behave yourself and stay on the alley, you may go to the bookstore... or to any other establishment on Camden Alley. If I hear word of you misbehaving, acting badly around any of the other children on the alley, or being disrespectful in any way, you will not be allowed to go out on your own again."

"I won't sir."

"Comb your hair, eat breakfast, and then you may go. Return by lunch. I suggest you find a book that will keep you occupied."

"I will," Harry promised. He was tired and his arm ached, but he was excited that he was finally going to get to go somewhere else on the alley by himself other than the apothecary.

Harry quickly did as he was told, and within twenty minutes was down the stairs and on Camden Alley. There were a few children out, though they were much younger than him. They were playing with a red ball and laughing. Harry thought they might live in the flats across the alley from Snape.

Down past the little side alley that held coffee shops and restaurants, Harry stopped for a moment and peered down it. He wanted to buy something sweet to eat, but only had thirty seven sickles, and decided he'd rather have books. He didn't know when he'd be able to get back to the library again, especially if his uncle intended to make him do long lists of chores every time he returned, and there were still five weeks left of summer to get through.

Harry pushed open the door to the bookstore at the end of the alley a minute later, and let his eyes adjust to the dim light inside for a few moments before he went in. The store was about as big as Flourish And Blotts, but had a cool vibe inside with warm yellow lightbulbs hanging on wires strung across the ceiling, brick walls and soft chairs to sit in while reading books to see if you wanted to buy them.

Harry had never taken too much time to browse Flourish And Blotts, always having been in a hurry to get his school books and nothing else. Hermione always came out with an extra armful of books whenever she went to Flourishes, and was always enthusing about what she got there.

He went to the Defense section and looked over the six shelves of books. There were quite a few he thought he'd like to buy, but he still had his textbook from school to get through first. He avoided the potions section altogether, and went to a back wall that had novels. He wasn't sure what he wanted to read. Usually the librarian in Little Whinging gave him suggestions, or he talked to muggle teens and asked what they had read recently that they liked. The novels here weren't broken up into kid, teen, and adult sections. Instead they were in sections that said things like, ‘Young Witch Romance,' and ‘Muggles Fighting Magical Creatures'. Harry pondered over the strange organization of the novels as he came to a section titled, ‘Unlucky Apprentices', and began to browse there. Harry still didn't know much about apprentices other than what he'd learned so far of potions apprenticeships. Here there were dozens of novels about auror apprentices and Harry pulled one off the shelf and read the back of it. ‘Toby Agnotious is fresh out of Hogwarts when he gets accepted into the Aurory as an apprentice. The only problem is his older sister is four years ahead of him in the apprenticeship program, and will be in charge of him as a senior apprentice. She's been embarrassing and pranking him since they were kids, and he needs to make a good impression here... especially now that rogue vampires are on the loose, and everything is at stake.'

Harry put that book back on the shelf and used his good hand to pull another off. After twenty minutes he'd read the summaries of four or five and finally found one he thought he'd like to buy about an apprentice who had been sucked back in time a hundred years, when the owner of the store came up behind him.

"Can I help you with something?"

Harry turned and found a man maybe in his twenties. He seemed irritated with Harry and Harry wondered if he'd been taking too long to pick a book.

"Just looking," Harry said, novel still in hand. It was fifteen sickles, and he thought he could probably find another at a lower price so he could take two back to Snape's flat.

The man looked down at Harry's hand in the large front pocket of his hoodie. "Warm day for a sweater, isn't it?"

Harry shrugged, turning his eyes back to the bookshelf. Snape had asked him the same thing the other day, and Harry had told him it was his favorite shirt.

The store owner didn't seem to want to leave Harry to browse though. "What's in the pocket?"

Harry turned back to him. "Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing. You've had your hand in there since just after you came in. Pull the book out and let me see what you're trying to steal."

"I- I'm not," Harry said, startled. "I don't have a book in there." He tucked the book in his good hand under his injured arm and put his good hand in his other pocket, pulling out his money. "I came to buy books, not steal them." He put the sickles back in his pocket and took the book out from under his armpit.

"Then why won't you take your hand out of your pocket and let me see for myself that there's nothing in there?" Without warning he grabbed Harry's injured arm and pulled it free of the front pocket. Harry winced as he dropped the book he was holding on the floor, taking a sharp breath in, and pulled his broken arm back, using his good arm to cradle it to himself. All thought of the irritated store owner had left him as Harry concentrated on breathing through the pain.

After several moments the man said quietly, "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing," Harry said with a wince, eyes watering. "Fell on it." He knew he wouldn't convince him, but he didn't care. He'd leave and never come back. The man didn't know him from anyone, so Harry didn't care what he thought he knew.

Before Harry even realized the man had pulled his wand out though, he'd already cast a spell and he said, "It's broken. Seems like something to me."

"Musta fallen on it harder than I thought," Harry said. He turned and headed for the door, arm still cradled to himself. Once he was a good ways down the alley and in the shadows of one of the tall buildings, Harry carefully tucked his throbbing arm back into the pocket of the hoodie, wiped his eyes with his other arm and went back to Snape's flat.

* * *

Harry passed the next two days sleeping and reading his Defense textbook. Snape must have thought he still looked tired or sick and left him alone. He didn't ask Harry to brew any more potions, and at the end of the fifth day took Harry back to Privet Drive. Harry was grateful to retreat back to his room where he could pull the warm hoodie off and let his arms breath. Maybe Snape had just run out of things for him to brew and fungus for him to collect, and would leave him be for the rest of the summer. While he never looked forward to time with his relatives, time on Privet Drive meant time he didn't have to hide his broken arm, because his aunt and uncle already knew it was broken.

* * *

Potter hadn't been awful to spend several days a week with, though Severus attributed that to the boy spending all of his free time by himself in his room reading. He did as he was told in regards to brewing potions and collecting and selling ingredients, but Severus still looked forward to the days he had to himself when the boy was back with his relatives. He didn't have to feel on edge when Potter was away. He felt free to relax, to go out for coffee, to leave the flat and travel if he wanted. He couldn't do any of those things with Potter around. It was the primary reason he kept taking the boy back to his relatives.

He was certain the boy's relatives appreciated having time with him during the summer in any case. By leaving Potter with them for five or six days at a time it gave them time to travel or go on holiday if they wanted. The boy's pudgy cousin certainly seemed to appreciate having him around, and Severus hoped that the boy got all of his rambunctious energy out while at home with his relatives so he could focus on studying and doing what needed to be done when Severus picked him up.

Two mornings after he'd returned Potter to Little Whinging, Severus relaxed at a little table in front of his favorite coffee shop in Camden Alley East. It was nice to be out in the cool morning air with the sun shining bright overhead. While Camden Alley was usually fairly quiet aside from a few children playing in the alley or a few residents coming and going at any given time of day, Camden Alley East was usually full of people in the morning and afternoon. Since this is where the restaurants and coffee shops were, it was common to see a couple dozen residents out chatting with each other at sidewalk tables, or exploring the few little shops between the coffee shops. There was a plant store Severus liked to get house plants from, especially since they carried rare plants he grew on his balcony to use for potions ingredients, a tiny pet shop that sold a few cats and owls, but mostly had food and other items needed to care for a variety of magical pets, and a travel agency Severus sometimes used on holidays when he wanted to travel abroad.

After leisurely making his way through two cups of coffee, Severus went to the bookstore on the end of Camden Alley and went inside. It was run by a young man not too many years out of Hogwarts. Most of the books in this store were geared toward young people, but knowing that Severus and the Potions Master that ran the apothecary here both lived above the alley, he also carried a sizeable section of Potion journals and books.

Severus browsed for a few minutes while a fourth year Hufflepuff girl that lived at the far end of the alley checked out, and then took a new potions journal he hadn't read yet up to the counter to pay.

As the shop owner rang up the purchase he said awkwardly, "That boy of yours... your apprentice."

Severus stiffened. What had the boy done now? He looked up, coins in hand. "Yes?"

"He get that broken arm taken care of at St. Mungos?"

Severus frowned. Clearly he had confused Potter with some other boy. "Excuse me?"

"That boy with the messy black hair... he's Harry Potter isn't he? He's your new apprentice?"

"Yes," Severus said cautiously. The apothecary must have told people he'd taken on a new apprentice, or perhaps the stationer had said something since he'd taken Harry in to get supplies a few weeks back. "What has he done?"

"Done?" the man asked, taking Severus' money. "Said he fell. Rushed out of the store without his book when I asked him about his arm. I did a diagnostic spell and saw it was broken."

"You must be mistaken," Severus said, taking the potions journal along with the receipt he had been handed. "My apprentice does not have a broken arm."

"If your apprentice is Harry Potter, he does." The man pulled a novel out from under the counter and set it on top in front of Severus. "Dropped this on his way out. Didn't get a chance to pay for it either. Send him back in for it after you take him to St. Mungos." Severus didn't like the look he was being given. It was a hard look, like the man was insisting he see to his injured apprentice.

"I will tell him," Severus said, sweeping out of the store a moment later. He was going to find Potter and drag him back to the bookstore by his ear to show the shop owner the boy was unharmed. If the brat had been out telling people Severus had hurt him... the boy was only going to wish he had a broken arm after Severus was done making him scrub out cauldrons and chop rat spleens. He would do the longest detention on record for spreading harmful lies like that.

After sending the potions journal to his flat with a spell, Severus turned on his heel and disapparated from the alley, reappearing a moment later in the backyard of Four Privet Drive. He couldn't apparate in the middle of the day in front of the house, and instead went out front via the side gate and knocked on the front door.

Harry opened the door and looked surprised to see him. Severus didn't wait to be invited in and stepped forward in a hurry, causing Harry to stumble backwards to get out of his way. After shutting the door with a snap, Snape said in a low and dangerous tone, "What did you tell the owner of the bookstore on Camden Alley?"

"What?" Harry practically squeaked, eyes fearful.

"You have one chance to tell me the truth. Lie to me and you will be cutting up rat spleens and crushing beetles until school starts."

Harry shook his head. "I don't know what you want me to say. I didn't tell him anything."

"Did you, or did you not tell him that you had a broken arm," Snape demanded.

"No, I didn't, I swear. He grabbed my arm and I winced, and I dropped the book I was gonna buy, and he said I had a broken arm. I said I fell and I left." All of the words rushed out of his mouth in a hurry. He was glad his cousin and uncle were out of the house, but his aunt was still there, and he wondered if she was hiding in the kitchen and listening to their conversation.

"That makes no sense," Snape spat.

"I'm telling the truth, I swear. He said I had a broken arm, and, and I didn't believe him. I fell on it the other day, that's all."

For the first time since he'd become Snape's apprentice, Snape didn't call him out on his lie. The man always seemed to know when he was lying, but this time he must have been so angry that he hadn't noticed.

"So your arm is injured?"

"A little," Harry lied. Snape wasn't buying this lie though. He pulled out his wand and did a diagnostic spell, the same one Madam Pomfrey always used when Harry ended up in the Hospital Wing.

"It is broken," Severus said. The anger had left him and his voice was flat... deflated. He looked around, maybe wondering for the first time since he'd barged in if Harry's aunt and uncle were home.

"Where is your family?"

Harry pointed with his good arm towards the kitchen and Severus walked through into the dining room, where Aunt Petunia was standing still and looking shocked to see him there.

"Why is the boy's arm broken? Why have you not taken him to the hospital to have it put into a cast or contacted me to heal it?"

"Broken?" Petunia asked, voice shaking. "I didn't even realize he was hurt."

Snape took her at her word and Harry wondered how come he could always tell when Harry was lying, but couldn't detect his aunt's lie. Maybe he couldn't tell when Harry was lying at all, and always just assumed he was. Snape turned sharply to stare at Harry, who had followed him into the dining room.

"I fell," he lied.

"And why did you not inform your relatives you were hurt, or me for that matter? When did this happen? Clearly before I last picked you up."

"It didn't hurt that bad. I didn't think it was broken. I thought it would just go away."

Snape shot him a look that said he didn't believe him, and Harry really hoped he wouldn't make good on his threat to make him chop rat spleens for the rest of the summer.

The dark eyed potions master turned back to Petunia, more calm in his voice now, and said, "As I am responsible for him, I will take him to St. Mungos to be treated. I will return for his things when we are done, and he will stay with me for several days."

"To chop rat spleens?" Harry asked, feeling sick to his stomach. He'd been made to do it in detention a few times over the years, and he always felt like throwing up when he was done because rat spleens were slimy and smelled bad.

Snape shot him a stern look and took hold of Harry's uninjured arm, taking him away with a pop before Harry or Petunia could say anything else.

They spent an hour at St. Mungos, most of that hour just waiting to be seen. They didn't even need a doctor to see him, as nurses were capable of healing simple fractures like the one in Harry's arm. She was appalled to see how much swelling and bruising there was, and dressed Snape down in the little healing room they were in for not bringing Harry in sooner. Harry knew he'd be paying later on for making Snape explain to her that he hadn't known about Harry's injury and that Harry hadn't even told his family about it. She didn't seem to have the heart to tell Harry off for not coming to be seen sooner though, and instead gave him a pain killer potion and slathered his arm in bruise balm and a second balm meant to reduce swelling. Those things couldn't be healed right away with a simple spell.

Snape took Harry back to Camden Alley and Harry was surprised to find that they were in front of the bookstore and not in Snape's flat.

"You will go into the bookstore and show the owner that your broken bone has been healed, and explain to him why you did not tell myself or your relatives of the injury."

Harry didn't want to do it but didn't dare argue with him. The more he argued, the more rat spleens he'd be chopping later.

He pushed the door open to the bookstore and went inside. The owner was behind the counter and looked up when he and Snape came in.

"Uh..." Harry didn't know what exactly to say. He lifted his arm, now healed, though it still hurt from the bruising and swelling. "It's healed," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't believe you when you said it was broken."

The man looked from Harry to Snape, and then back again. He pulled the novel Harry had been looking at the other day out from under the counter and set it next to the register. "You forgot your book."

Harry bit his lip. "I don't have my money on me right now." Some sort of silent conversation seemed to have flashed quickly between Snape and the shop owner however, and before Harry could understand what was happening, Snape had paid for the book, picked it up, thanked the man, and led Harry back onto the alley.

"I'll pay you back," Harry said.

"Yes you will."

"In rat spleens?"

"Be silent," he snapped, though only loud enough for Harry to hear.

Back in the flat he handed the book to Harry and instructed him to stay in his room. He disapparated without another word, and Harry wondered if he'd gone back to Privet Drive, or gone to find some rats for detention. Harry only had a few minutes to ponder it before he was back with Harry's trunk, which he left at the foot of Harry's bed.

Harry stayed in his room for an hour, wondering when Snape would call him out, but he didn't until lunch time, and then he left him to himself again until dinner.

The next day, when Snape failed to mention anything to Harry about rats, their spleens, or any other punishments after breakfast, Harry allowed himself to relax enough to lay in bed and start reading the novel from the bookstore. While it was an adventure book about a young auror apprentice, Harry thought that so far his time as a potions apprentice had had far more excitement and drama. His life would have made for a far more interesting read than a young man who had traveled back in time.

Severus still didn't understand why the fifteen year old hadn't told anyone that his arm was broken. The child insisted that he just hadn't realized, but Severus knew from experience that broken bones hurt too much to let them heal on their own. It was more likely that the brat had been doing something he shouldn't have when he'd broken his arm. His black eye from the start of the summer had already told Severus that the boy had been fighting someone, likely his cousin or other neighborhood kids in Surrey, and the broken arm seemed to prove that to be the case.

There was also a possibility that the child was just too stubborn or proud to ask for help when he needed it, but that didn't match up to the weeks Potter had been with him doing apprenticeship work. When he didn't know the answer to a problem, he asked questions. When he needed more paper to complete his school work, he told Severus exactly what he needed. So not stubborn or proud, just a troublemaker. In Potter's days with Severus, he made sure the boy didn't have too much of a chance to go out on Camden Alley on his own. If he was always with Severus or completing a specific task out at the Apothecary, he'd have no chance to fight with the children that lived in the nearby buildings. Severus was grateful that there were no children that lived in the flat below, or the flat on the ground floor of his building. Below him was a little old lady, and below her a young couple that liked owls too much and were thinking of moving to the country to start an owl breeding business.

For now Severus would keep doing what he had been until the start of the school year: picking Harry up for a few days at a time and then taking him back to Little Whinging. There would come a point when he would need to go back to Hogwarts, and he was considering taking the boy with him when he did so he could ensure the brat stayed out of trouble. He would be busy preparing lesson plans and grading rubrics, getting Slytherin house ready, and brewing potions for Poppy, but he could get Potter to help with brewing. He needed to make sure the boy was confident with brewing as quickly as possible. There was a test apprentices had to take at the end of their first two years and there was no way he was going to let the boy flunk it. Apprentices couldn't go on to their second two years apprenticing if they didn't pass the test, but more than that, Severus would be laughed out of the potions community for letting an apprentice fail it, especially since everything on the test was basic knowledge.

* * *

Harry wasn't expecting Snape back so soon, but Uncle Vernon seemed pleased. At first his uncle had grumbled about Harry being returned every three days, but once it was apparent that it was a pattern, and that Harry would only be home for two nights at a time, he said, "That's more like it boy. Can't learn what you need to if you're here with us."

Harry had grown comfortable with the routine too. He didn't want to go with Snape at all, but he could handle three days at a time as it meant Snape kept him busy hunting for ingredients, buying and selling supplies at the apothecary, and taking notes on the things he'd been told instead of sitting around in awkward silence with the man for a whole week. Three days on, two days off... this was the way it was supposed to be because it had been for weeks now, but here was Snape at the front door unannounced when Harry had only been off for one day.

Vernon had opened the door, looked surprised to see Snape there, looked at his watch to check the date, and then said, "Come to take him again have you? He must be doing well then? Or are you back a day early because he needs extra tutoring?"

"An unexpected opportunity has arisen. I will need him for the day and the night. He will return in the morning."

"If you had kept the schedule you would be picking him up in the morning," Vernon reminded him.

"He will stay with you for two more days before I take him again. I have not yet decided, but there is the possibility that he will spend the last two weeks of summer with me. I will let you know if that is the case."

"Can't complain about more time to learn can you?" Vernon said, turning to Harry with a smile. He rarely smiled at Harry and it was disconcerting to see him doing so now.

"Get your supply kit and jacket," Snape instructed.

"Yes sir."

Harry frowned as he went up the stairs to his room, got the wooden box with his supplies, his worn hoodie, and came back down the stairs a minute later. What was Snape taking him to do? Why did he need Harry to spend the last two weeks of summer with him?

They went through the house into the back yard, where Uncle Vernon stood and watched them apparate away this time since Dudley wasn't there to do it. Harry had heard his cousin telling Vernon that it was ‘amazing' to see them disappear into thin air. They reappeared not in Snape's flat in London, but on the edge of bog swamped in soupy thin fog.

"Put your jacket on and get your gloves out," Snape instructed. He knelt down next to a wooden crate which had his own harvesting tools in them, and put his own gloves on. "Leave your gathering tools here in the crate."

Harry did as he was told and then took a large gray silk sack with a drawstring that Snape handed to him.

"You are to be on your best behavior. We have been invited to gather Aconite from a private crop. The potions master who owns this crop had a bumper harvest and has more than he can preserve. He is allowing us and another potions master and apprentice to gather it on the condition that we do not sell it and only use it for potions we will be brewing. You will be polite and respectful at all times. If either of the other two potions masters here ask you questions or try to teach you something, you will answer their questions and listen to what they have to say. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded. "Yes sir."

Snape took a step forward, then turned and put a hand out to stop Harry from following him. He gave him a serious look and said, "Remember what I told you about other potions apprentices earlier in the summer. Not all information given to you by them is to be trusted. Any information given to you that you are not certain about you will ask me about when we are alone."

"Yes sir."

Snape gave a nod, looked wary and tense, like the first time he'd sent Harry to the apothecary on Camden, and then steeled himself before turning and leading Harry off into the fog.

"Is that you Edric?" came a voice as they approached another wooden crate.

"It's Severus," he said and as they walked, two dark figures came into view through the chilly fog.

"Ah Severus, I wasn't sure when you'd be back. Edric had to fetch his apprentice from Wales and should have been back by now."

"This is my apprentice, Harry Potter." He sounded bitter when he said Harry's name.

"Mr. Potter," said the man, moving to shake Harry's hand. "I'm pleased to meet you. Quite surprised to hear that you've chosen to become a potions apprentice, but pleased all the same. You couldn't have a better potions master to get you through your first two years of apprenticeship. I suppose Severus couldn't have picked a better first apprentice than The-Boy-Who-Lived either. All eyes will be on the two of you to see what comes of it now."

"You've had his hand for a while now," said the other man with him. He was older than Harry, but Harry wasn't sure by how much. He might have been twenty.

"So I have," the man said, letting go of Harry's hand. "Haven't even had the decency to introduce myself either. I'm Rand Scothern, and this is my apprentice in his fourth year Leighton Bidwell. We're just waiting on Edric and his third year apprentice Soren Spofforth."

He turned to Severus and said conversationally, "Soren's made quite a name for himself these last three years for going to any length to get rare ingredients. I expect he'll be quite wealthy by the end of his first two years as a Potions Master. Just came back last week scorched across his left side because he'd been gathering fallen scales from a dragon in its own den while it slept!" He turned to Harry then and said, "Is that what you'll be doing Harry? I heard you had an encounter with a dragon not that long ago during the TriWizard tournament."

Harry shook his head. "No sir, I don't think so."

A few moments later they heard a man call out through the fog, "Ho!"

"Ho! Here Edric!" Rand shouted in return, and after a minute they heard Edric and his apprentice Sorren slushing through the edges of the bog towards them, appearing through the soupy fog.

Edric was an older man who looked grumpy. His hair was mused like Harry's, and slowly losing its brown color as it turned gray. Soren looked to be about Leighton's age, maybe twenty, and looked about as unkempt as his potions master.

"Sorry we're late," Soren said. "Took master Edric a bit to find me. I was out on The Skerries collecting feathers from the Roseate tern."

Harry watched the three potions masters and the other two apprentices interacting with curiosity. They were older than him, but he was interested to see that some apprentices were sent out on their own to gather ingredients. While Edric seemed grumpy, he and his apprentice acted as though they were friends, and joked about how Soren had had to save Edric from falling into the sea when he'd come to find him earlier that day. Rand seemed friendly enough, and while his apprentice Leighton hadn't said enough yet for Harry to get a read on him, he seemed to know Sorren and Edric, and Harry wondered if the four of them got together to do this sort of thing often. Did Snape get together with them frequently too?

Introductions were made again, mainly the introduction of Harry to Edric and Sorren, and then they set off into the mist, fog clinging to them as they went into the aconite fields.

"Third year has been our best," Rand said. "Careful not to trample them or they'll be useless. Don't pull them up by the roots. Snip or pinch them off at the base but be sure to leave about two inches of stem so we can find the roots again. We need to divide the roots so we'll get an even bigger crop next year." He turned to Harry and asked, "Have you worked with aconite before? Have you harvested or preserved it?"

He shook his head. "No sir."

"Go with Leighton and Soren. Wear your gloves and don't touch your face. Aconitum is highly toxic and can be absorbed through the skin. It will kill you if you get it in your mouth."

"Yes sir."

Leighton and Soren seemed to be waiting for him, so Harry went to them and hoped they'd give him truthful information. Snape would be mad if Harry ruined any of the aconite they harvested or wrecked Rand's crop.

They led Harry quite a ways from the group of potions masters through the fog before they stopped and knelt down in a huge patch of purple aconite flowers.

"Gloves on," Soren reminded Harry. "Nasty business getting aconite into your system. We've got potions to counteract the toxins, but if you get nicked with a fingernail or something that has aconite on it, one of the masters will have to go in with a clean blade to dig the infected flesh out. Then we'll never hear the end of it for letting a first year apprentice get aconite poisoning."

"Yes sir," Harry replied, but was consternated when Soren laughed. Leighton didn't laugh but he was grinning.

"Will you listen to him?" Soren said with another laugh. "Cut that out. We're not a sir if you're not our apprentice. I've got three more years ahead of me before I can take the test to become a potions master, and Leighton's got two. Besides that I'm not old enough to be a sir yet. I'm only twenty. Are you old enough?" he asked Leighton.

Leighton did laugh at that. "I hope not. Only twenty four. Think I have to be married or forty before I become a ‘sir.'"

"Got it," Harry said, cheeks heating up.

The two older apprentices set their bags on the damp grass and sat down on them and motioned for Harry to do the same. They seemed in no rush to start working.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked. He didn't want Snape to come searching for him and find him with an empty bag.

"We've got some time," Leighton said. "They're over there talking. It'll be some time yet before they start gathering aconite themselves."

Harry frowned.

"This is your first joint gathering isn't it," Leighton said, giving Harry a bored look. "We're here to get aconite, but the masters like to meet like this to talk."

"They're just... chatting?" Harry asked, brows raised.

"Potions talk," Soren said. "Talking about whatever they're working on, talking about us, or about whatever news there is from the latest potions journals. Waste of time writing letters and owling each other when they can get together two or three at a time and talk while they work. Could be making deals with each other to brew potions they're known for or to trade rare ingredients or things they have too much stock in. Talk today will probably be about you. No one really realized you were master Snape's new apprentice."

"So this sort of thing happens often? Getting together to gather ingredients? We've been out gathering things on our own all summer," Harry said.

"Not every week," Leigton said, "but often enough. Once a month maybe. Masters Rand and Edric get on well together so Soren and I see a lot of each other too. Whoever your master is friends with is who you'll see most often. I haven't seen master Snape in a year at least."

"Me too," said Soren. "Year and a half maybe. Think master Edric and I were out with master Jigger harvesting mandrake from Jigger's greenhouse and they needed master Snape's help. That was around Christmas that year."

Leighton and Soren talked for a few more minutes, mostly about what Soren had been gathering that morning before Edric had found him and brought him here, and then their attention turned to Harry again.

"It's unusual to see someone so young in an apprenticeship. First two years aren't all that hard, but still. You usually see new apprentices coming into the field after they graduate Hogwarts. Most take a year off, or even two before they start or a space opens up with a potions master."

"My grade in potions wasn't the best. I wanted to get an apprenticeship with the aurory after I graduated and I need a good grade on my potions NEWT. My uncle and Snape set it up between the two of them."

The other two apprentices were quiet for a long moment. "So you don't even want to be a potions master?" Soren asked.

"It's not that," Harry said, hoping he hadn't offended them. He actually had enjoyed learning about fungus and other things they'd gathered over the last five weeks, and it had been interesting learning to barter with the apothecary owner on Camden Alley. "I didn't mean to say it's not interesting."

"What do you mean your uncle and master Snape set it up?"

"I live with my aunt and uncle. They're Muggles. My uncle said I needed to make sure everything was set up so I could get the apprenticeship I wanted after I graduate. He told Snape and asked him to take me as an apprentice to make sure I got a good grade on my potions NEWT. Snape agreed and I've been doing this all summer. I go with him three to seven days at a time and then he takes me home."

Soren and Leighton were staring at him as he talked but didn't question him much further on it except for Soren asking, "You like being his apprentice though, don't you?"

"Yes," Harry lied. There were things about it he liked, but being with Snape was below his last choice. He still thought it might have been better to be apprenticed to Voldemort if given a choice between the two, though he kept his thoughts to himself.

Soren and Leighton exchanged another look, and then Leighton said, "It's master Snape."

"Hm?" Harry looked up at him.

"If you're going to get through this two year apprenticeship, you'd better call him master Snape, or master Severus, whatever he prefers. You could probably keep calling him professor when you're at school, but when talking about him to other potions masters or potions apprentices, or even to people from the Ministry, you should call him master. He told you everything you do and say reflects on him and you, right?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"Eh," Soren said as though Leighton was making it a bigger deal than it needed to be. "He's got more leeway as a first year. They'll really start to call you out on things in your second year though, and once you're past that it's expected you'll follow all the rules of decorum."

"What are the rules?" Harry asked.

"What did master Severus tell you?" Leighton asked.

Harry explained about all he'd been told about going to see the apothecary to barter.

"That's all true," Leighton said, "plus what we told you. He's earned the title of master, and whether you want to be his apprentice or not, he's taking his time without pay to teach you what you need to know, so it's expected you and everyone else in the potions community will call him master. And it's expected that you'll call our masters master as well."

"I will."

"Other than that," Soren added, "it's all pretty basic. Give credit where it's due, don't say you're capable of something you're not, don't try to pass off sub par ingredients as high quality, and in general just be respectful."

"There's something else," Harry said, and Soren and Leighton looked up at him. "Master Snape," Harry said, trying out the title, "he said not to listen to what other apprentices tell me because some will try to give me misinformation. He said it's all a competition to set ourselves apart and some will try to make me look bad. Not that- not that that's what you're doing," he added quickly. He really just wanted to know what they thought about what Snape had said because up to this point they seemed to be pretty straight with him about the rules... helpful even.

Leighton and Soren shared a look. "That's true. We could tell you we're not the kind of apprentice that would do that sort of thing, but I don't suppose you'd listen to us after what your master told you. Our masters told us the same thing when we were first year apprentices. I have seen it happen to others though. With you being who you are... The-Boy-Who-Lived, other apprentices will definitely see you as a threat. It'll be hard to set themselves apart and above you with your fame. But even if Soren and I were the type to try to make you look bad, you just told us that you don't want to be a potions master... at least not yet. Your aim right now from what I can tell is to just make it through the next couple of years. Knowing that, you'll probably find that a lot of apprentices will relax around you."

Soren nodded, looking down at his hands as the fog grew thicker. "You're not exactly what people expect anyway. With your fame people expect you to be pompous and full of yourself, and then you show up calm and quiet and calling us sir."

"There is that," Leighton said. "Throws people off. Once they meet you they probably won't see you as enough of a threat to try to make you look bad. All the same, keep an eye out for the competitive ones."

"You're not?" Harry asked.

"Oh we are," Soren said. "I'm going to be the potions master everyone comes to for ingredients no one else cares to risk themselves to gather. And Leighton's aiming to brew potions with volatile bases that almost never turn out for others. Leighton's got competition from an apprentice over in Blackpool who's mastered brewing wolfsbane, but no one wants to risk their lives for dragon scales and other things like I do."

"Well don't look at me," Harry said with a little laugh. "I've only just learned about fungus this summer and that's easy enough to gather."

"That's one of master Snape's things," Soren told him. "He has patches of fungi sown across the isles, and probably up in the mountains above Hogwarts. It wouldn't surprise me if he's got things growing out in the Forbidden Forest as well."

"I didn't know that," Harry said. He'd been quite pleased with himself becoming a master of fungi, but if that was Snape's primary source of income and ingredients it made sense that that was what he'd be learning the most about.

"I think that's been enough time," Leighton said, looking down at his watch. "We should get started." He didn't move to get up though and instead pulled his gloves back on and pulled out his shears and snipped off a stem of aconite.

"This is aconite," he said, showing it to Harry. "Remember what we said before. Keep your gloves on. Don't touch this stuff with your skin or touch your skin or face with your gloves. If you have to scratch an itch, pull your gloves off first and use your bare hands. When you're done harvesting today you or your master will have to use a special potion to cleanse your clothes so you don't accidentally get toxin on you later on."

"We store the aconite in special satin bags that have been dipped in a class three preservation potion," Soren said. "The potion isn't to preserve the aconite, but the bags. It ensures the bags won't get toxin on them. You won't even have to wash these bags out when you're done with them before using them on another ingredient. Master Snape will make you wash it anyway, but you won't have to in order to avoid cross contamination. You know what potions aconite is used in?"

Harry shook his head.

"It's a poison, so a lot of poisons have it in them, but the toxin can also counteract other poisons. In the wolfsbane potion there's hemlock, which is used to suppress the infection that turns people into werewolves three nights a month, but hemlock is poisonous, so we have to add aconite to counteract it. There are other ingredients that do the same thing, but aconite is also known as wolfsbane amongst other things, and it also suppresses the werewolf infection."

Leighton began listing off the other names for aconite, and told Harry to look it up later because he'd be tested on it at some point. "Aconite, monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, mousebane, women's bane, queen of poisons, blue rocket, and devil's helmet."

"That's a lot," Harry commented, sure he would never remember all the names for it. He'd heard it called monkshood before, and was sure he could remember wolfsbane and aconite, but the others would take some studying.

"Aconitum is part of the Ranunculaceae family," Leighton continued. "There's around 250 species of flowering plants in the Ranunculaceae family, a lot of which are used in potions. Pretty much all of the aconitum species are extremely poisonous, so be careful handling them. Master Rand and I planted this patch three years ago and have been tending to it ever since. Aconitum likes its roots to be moist and its leaves to be exposed to the sun. This bog is foggy all day some days, but most of the time it's in full sun, and as you can tell the ground stays moist year round."

They showed Harry how to snip the stems off, leaving a couple inches of the stem in-tact so they could find the roots later, and then the three of them set to work harvesting the patch of aconite.

A few minutes into it Leighton said, "Tell me a fact about aconite."

"Most species are poisonous," Harry said.

"Tell me a fact about monkshood," Soren said.

"It grows where its roots can stay wet," Harry answered.

"And a fact about wolfsbane?" Soren asked again.

Harry listed another fact, and the two elder apprentices asked him a new question each time but using one of the other names of aconite. When they'd gone through the names, Leighton began telling Harry about how to preserve what they were harvesting, but each time he spoke he used an alternate name. At the end of an hour of harvesting Harry thought he actually had a pretty good handle on all the names for it and appreciated that they'd taken the time to teach him.

"Bonus points," Soren said when Harry's large silk sack was half full. "They don't expect you to know this but it'll impress the potions masters if you ever get asked. The English name for aconite is monkshood, and that refers to the cylindrical helmet that distinguishes the flower."

"Teaching him to show off already," Leighton said.

"He's our mini-apprentice," Soren said in a teasing voice. "He called us sir. Why shouldn't we teach him to show off how well we taught him?"

"Fine then," Leighton said. "I know master Rand will try to tell you this since he specializes in growing aconitum. When growing in the wild aconite flowers are very dark blue or dark purple. When cultivating them in a garden the shades are much lighter. Look at how dark these are since we've grown them here in the bog."

Harry looked closely. "They're almost not even purple," Harry said. The purple was so deep it was reaching towards a deep dark gray like the night sky.

"These are very potent. The deeper the color the more potent for use in potions. That's why you can't sell them. We grow these to sell as no one else has aconite of this quality. After today you and master Snape, and Soren and master Edric will have enough to last you quite some time though. You'll have to come up with something really special to brew with it to sell. Potions made with our midnight aconite should fetch a pretty knut."

"Midnight aconite?" Harry asked.

"That's what we call it. We also have another patch not too far from here we harvest only on full moon nights. That's called moonlight aconite. It's a lighter color and when you harvest it on the full moon it turns a pale yellow as soon as it's cut. Master Rand and I have been experimenting with a stronger wolfsbane potion. Someday we'll be able to cure lycanthropy altogether. We believe the key is in the type of aconite used."

"That'll be something," Soren said. "Talk about setting yourself apart. That apprentice over in Blackpool will have nothing to show for his apprenticeship if you create a newer better wolfsbane potion."

"Moonlight wolfsbane," Harry said.

"Hm?" Leighton asked.

"You could name the new potion moonlight wolfsbane. Or if you mix the midnight and moonlight aconite together you could make midnight moonlight wolfsbane."

"Could do," Leighton said. "We'd discussed it, but we'd have to breed the two strains together and then harvest on a full moon. Can't just mix different types of aconite together into a potion because they cancel each other out and then they don't cancel out the hemlock and we'd just end up poisoning whatever poor person drank it."

"That's good to know," Harry said, snipping several aconite stems off at once as they were in a cluster together.

"It's a one to one thing in potions," Leighton said. "Put hemlock in, cancel it with aconite or something else that cancels poisons. Put one type of aconite in, you can cancel it with a second type. Add a third type of aconite in and you'll just have poison again unless you add a fourth thing to cancel that third type out."

Leighton and Soren chatted for another hour while they worked about the various things they'd been doing since they'd last seen each other (it had been almost two months since their masters had gotten together to harvest ingredients). When they seemed to have run out of things to talk about they began quizzing Harry on aconite to be sure he had all the information down.

"Best way to learn it," Soren told him. "You learn about it, you talk about it, you answer questions about it, you quiz yourself about it, and if you really want to cement the knowledge in place you write about it or tell someone else about it."

"That's what master Snape has been doing. And the apothecary we sell to quizzes me on whatever I sell to him as well."

"That's the way it's done in the potions community. Apprentices have been learning this way for hundreds of years. As a first and second year apprentice you'll be quizzed by every potions master you come across. It happens sometimes as a third or fourth year, but by your fifth and sixth year it won't happen at all unless your own master is testing you to get you ready for the mastery test."

"I make note cards on new things I'm learning and put questions on the front and answers on the back and quiz myself in my free time," Leighton said. "If you go for a second apprenticeship when you're done with this one you'll appreciate how little you had to work to memorize facts because masters all around you had been quizzing you and re-teaching you when you forget answers. As an older apprentice you have to do it all yourself."

"I thought they were just testing me to make sure I'd learned what I was supposed to."

"That's for your master to do," Soren said, "because if you don't know what you need to after he's done teaching you then that's his fault. Other masters do it for you though, to help you get all the information down and sort it all out. They all sorta consider it their responsibility to make sure you succeed. It's possible to fail and have to repeat two years of an apprenticeship, but only if you're daft at it or if you just really don't want to learn."

"Or if you quit," Leighton said.

Harry was quiet. "You can do that?" he asked.

"An apprenticeship is a contract, usually between someone of majority and the master taking them on, or in your case between master Snape and your guardians. Occasionally the contract has to be broken, but that requires going to the ministry, and both the apprentice and the master have to agree to it. It happens sometimes, but not very often. I've never seen it happen."

"Usually it's because the apprentice and master aren't getting along, though that looks really bad on both of them," Soren said. "Sometimes something happens to the apprentice or master and one of them can't complete the apprenticeship. Like if someone got into an accident and couldn't be healed well enough to do the work."

"Is it that way with all types of apprenticeships?" Harry asked. "Like in the aurory?"

"No," Soren told him. "The aurory works differently. All types of work have their own social structures and values as well as different ways of doing apprenticeships. I heard apprenticeships in the aurory only last six months so you go through two a year and you do that for two years to get an auror license. I don't think you're a full fledged auror at that point, there's more to it than that, but I've never talked with an auror or an auror apprentice so I'm not sure."

"Then there's teaching apprenticeships," Leighton said. "Master Snape will have had to do one of those to teach at Hogwarts. No idea how that works. There's also apprenticeships for experimental magic and other types of jobs at the Ministry."

"So all jobs have apprenticeships?"

"Nah," Soren said. "Plenty of things you can do after graduating if you get good grades on your NEWTs. Some things you can do with just good grades on your OWLs."

They collected Aconite for another few minutes before Leighton had Harry recite the many names of the plant back to him and Soren had Harry "teach" them a lesson about Aconite so that he'd have to recite all he knew about it. By the time their sacks were full and they started back through the fog to find the three potions masters, the two elder apprentices had also taught Harry the names of a dozen potions that Aconite was in and described what they were used for and how hard or easy they were to brew.

Snape was setting three small wooden tables up by the wood crates full of their harvesting equipment and Rand was pulling things out of one of the crates when they found them.

"Leave your bags with your masters'," Rand said, and Harry went to the crate he'd left his supplies in and set his bag of aconite down next to Snape's.

"Set the items from our crate out on this table," Snape told Harry, and Harry gave a nod in the fog and set to work. There was a mortar and pestle, various glass jars with lids, metal tins with lids, white linen cloths, knives and a few other things used in preparing or preserving ingredients. While Harry set their supplies out, Leighton and Soren were doing the same at the other two little tables. The three tables had been set up in a triangle so everyone could work facing each other.

Edric came out of the fog with three jars of bog water and set one on each table and went to stand next to Soren.

"Harry," Rand said, and Harry looked up at him. "Be sure to keep your gloves on while you work and don't breathe any powder of wolfsbane in. We'll be preparing our Aconite here as it's best preserved or used when it's fresh."

Harry nodded to show he understood and Rand kept talking.

"It can be preserved in water, but only in the water it was grown with. When preserved this way it will keep like it's fresh for potions that require fresh aconite. It will keep this way for years. You'll know it's gone bad because it will lose all its color and turn brown. Simply pack as much aconite as you can, stems and flowers into the jar of bog water without crushing them." He pointed to indicate that Harry should do this now and Harry retrieved his bag of aconite and pushed two handfuls of the flowers and stems gently into the jar of bog water.

"That's it. Now be sure they're completely submerged and screw the lid on. Few potions require fresh aconite which is why we don't preserve very much of it this way. Most potions require crushed or dried aconite, and a few powder of aconite."

Harry looked to the other tables and realized that everyone else was already preserving their wolfsbane in this way. Even Snape had started crushing aconite in the mortar with a pestle.

Rand seemed to be done instructing him for now and Snape quietly took over, showing him how to crush aconite into a purple paste that needed to be scooped into the metal tins with lids for storage.

After filling up several tins, Harry and Snape moved on to using the linen cloths to press the water out of purple aconite flowers so they could start the drying process. Later after a few days had passed they would need to take the dried flowers and crush them into a purple powder. For now the two of them set to work drying dozens of sheets of purple flowers pressed between linens, which quickly became stained purple.

Harry and Snape worked quietly like they had been for weeks now, but Harry didn't find the silence to be as awkward this time as he was able to listen to Rand and Leighton talking to each other and Edric and Soren conversing in low tones. Harry's earlier assessment of Edric and Soren seemed to be true. Edric was a little grumpy and Soren boisterous, though they both seemed to get along well together. At the other table Rand chatted happily away and seemed friendly, while his apprentice Leighton seemed to be nothing but business. Leighton listened and occasionally answered a question from Rand, but otherwise was fully engaged in his work of preserving aconite.

Over an hour passed this way before the three tables ran out of aconite to process and the tables were cleaned up.

"That's that then," Rand said happily. "Another happy harvest. The only thing left is to divide the aconitum roots, but that will have to wait until after dinner. We get the best results when the roots are divided and replanted after dark.

Dinner sounded like a good plan to Harry who was starving after working through lunch. He hadn't had breakfast that morning either, and wondered if Snape would be apparating away with him to go back to the man's flat to get something to eat.

Instead, Snape made Harry wash his hands twice in a jar of clean water, then once with a potion, and then once again in the clean water, and then led him through the fog a little ways. It was still daylight though it was nearing seven, but the dense ever present fog made it seem later in the evening.

A warm glow appeared as they walked over the damp clumps of grass, and a moment later a warm fire came into view, circled by stones to keep it contained and radiate heat. Leighton and Soren were sitting next to each other and had appeared to save Harry a seat on one of the empty upturned crates. Snape sat down next to Rand and Edric, who were busy cooking sausages over the fire.

"Here," Leighton said, pushing a cup of something hot into Harry's hands, and Harry was surprised to find it was hot buttered rum.

He looked up to see what Snape had to say about it, as he'd never had any sort of alcohol before, but the man was determinedly looking away from him.

"Go ahead," Soren told him quietly as Rand started to ask Severus questions about the upcoming school year.

"I'm allowed?" Harry asked.

"Not much of a gathering without hot buttered rum," Leighton said. "At least not a gathering put on by master Rand."

Soren laughed when Harry took a sip and choked a little. "Sausages, cheese, berries and hot buttered rum are the norm when coming to harvest with master Rand," he said. Harry tried an even smaller sip and enjoyed the warmth and the flavor of the hot drink, though he enjoyed wrapping his hands around it even more.

"Cheese," Leighton said, unwrapping a block of hard white cheese wrapped in a cloth and cutting off a piece. He handed a piece to Snape first, then Edric, then Rand. Next he gave one to Soren and then finally Harry before cutting off a piece for himself. The flavor of the cheese was strong, but on Harry's empty stomach he appreciated it nonetheless.

By the time he was done with his cheese and had taken a few more sips of his hot drink, Edric had handed him a hot sausage fresh off the pan and Rand seemed to be done talking with Snape. Instead he turned his attention to Harry as they all settled in to finish their meal.

"Harry, do you know why our aconite flowers are so deep in color?"

Harry gave Leighton a smile and a look out of the corner of his eye and said, " Aconite's usually dark in color when found in the wild, but lighter when cultivated in a garden. Yours was grown in wild conditions though in a bog so it's very dark."

"Ah, see I can't fault Leighton," Rand said with a smile. "Thought I could come up with something he might have forgotten to teach you. Smart as a whip, can't trip him up."

"How can you tell if someone has slipped aconite into your drink?" Edric gruffed, not looking up from his sausage, and Harry paused, drink halfway to his lips, mind whirring into action as he looked down into the hot buttered rum. He looked up at the group, eyes full of panic.

"He's not having you on," Soren said, "and he didn't poison you either. It's a genuine question."

"I don't know sir," Harry said, still not bringing the mug any closer to him.

Edric and Rand both looked at Severus, who looked across the fire to Harry and asked, "What does aconite smell like?"

"It's woodsy... damp... dark, like a forest." They all smelled of aconite since they'd been chopping it, mashing it, and drying it. Harry quite liked the smell.

"Do you smell that in your drink?" Harry sniffed the drink but could only smell the buttered rum and the aconite hanging in the air around them. He shook his head.

"Touch your lip to your mug and tip it back so only a small amount touches your bottom lip," Snape instructed.

Harry did so and was careful not to let any more of the rum get into his mouth.

"Do you feel anything other than wetness on your lip?"

"No sir."

"Aconite produces a tingling or burning sensation when touching your lips. While tasteless, you would know if you had ingested any as it would produce a burning and tingling sensation in your mouth, on your lips, and all the way down your esophagus. You should always test your drinks before you consume them. Use all of your senses. Look first to see if what you're about to consume looks off in some way, smell it, touch it to your lip, and finally taste it before you decide to swallow it."

Harry's heart calmed down a little and Soren slapped him on the back. "Take it easy," he said. "We all learned the lesson the same way. First gathering an apprentice goes to with poisonous ingredients being processed, someone always asks and the new apprentice always gets the same panicked look you did."

Leighton and Rand laughed, and even Edric cracked a smile. Harry's cheeks tinged red and Edric said, "Don't forget about your gut sense," he said. "If you're amongst friends you're probably fine to eat and drink whatever you've been given. Take a look around you and be sure no one's acting odd before you sit down to a meal though."

"But people don't get poisoned often do they?" Harry asked.

"It happens more than one would think," Severus said. "As a potions apprentice it would look bad for the potions community as a whole if it were to happen to you because those working with potions should know better."

"Yes sir. I'll check from now on."

After their meal Rand took Edric and Harry, and Leighton took Soren and Snape and they went out to the spots they had harvested from earlier that day. Rand showed Harry and Edric how to carefully pull up the roots of the harvested wolfsbane plants, how to divide the roots, and then how to replant them. They worked on their hands and knees for another two hours this way, getting dim light from the jars that previously held bog water but had now been charmed to radiate light as though they had fireflies in them. It was after eleven pm when Snape finally collected Harry to gather all of their supplies and jars and tins of aconite into Snape's wooden crate.

Snape thanked Rand for allowing them to gather aconite from his private patch, and then apparated Harry back to his flat.

In the light of the flat above Camden Alley, Harry realized how filthy he was after crawling around in the bog all day. Even his neck and face were dirty.

"Take a shower," Snape told him. "There is a change of clothes for you in the bathroom. Your clothes are contaminated with wolfsbane. Once you remove them in the bathroom, put them in the black bag on the floor and wash your hands with the potion sitting on the counter. Shower thoroughly and when you are done wash your hands with the potion on the counter again and then change into the fresh clothes. Be quick as I must also do the same."

Harry gave him a nod, went into the guest room and found the clothes Snape was talking about, and hurried into the bathroom. After he was done with his shower and getting dressed, he wondered about the clothes he was putting on. They were new, or at least he thought they were. He had been given a black t-shirt and a pair of soft gray drawstring sweatpants and a pair of socks and underwear.

As soon as Harry emerged from the bathroom, Snape told him to eat what was on the kitchen counter and go to bed. Snape disappeared into the bathroom for his shower, and Harry was surprised to find a piece of fruit and a muffin on the counter. Wary of poison now that he'd been warned about it, Harry looked at the food, sniffed it, thought that Snape probably would like to poison him, and then ate the food anyway. Snape was too content on torturing him to poison him, at least for the time being. Harry hadn't felt too tortured that day though. He'd enjoyed the time with the other apprentices, even though they were already adults. He'd learned a lot about apprenticeships and had enjoyed the dinner around the campfire. It was one of the few fun things he'd ever been allowed to do during summer holidays, and he wondered if he'd be allowed to attend a gathering like that again.

* * *

In the morning after they had eaten breakfast, Severus and Harry brewed a simple potion which they then poured into a large container and soaked all of their clothing from the night before in.

"Smells musty," Harry said. "Is that the potion or the clothes?"

"It's the hemlock in the potion. Now you know what poison hemlock smells like and will know what to look for in your food."

"Yes sir," Harry said, once again reminded that someday someone might try to poison him.

"Why did we use hemlock in this cleansing potion?" Snape asked.

"To counteract the wolfsbane," Harry said. "Because wolfsbane is used in potions to counteract hemlock. One toxin to cancel another out."

"Yes. A basic cleansing potion with hemlock added in. The two poisons cancel each other out and we are left with a basic cleansing potion."

Snape quizzed Harry for almost twenty minutes on what he'd learned the night before from the other apprentices, and then declared that everything Harry had been told was true.

"You said they'd try to trick me."

"I said some apprentices will. Just because they did not this time does not mean they won't in the future."

"How is anyone supposed to make friends if they have to be on the lookout all the time for people lying to them?"

Snape gave him a wary look, as if to say, ‘how could you be friends with someone without vetting them first?'

Harry never found out the answer because a few minutes later, Snape apparated him back to his relatives, telling him he could have his clothes back in three days when they were done soaking in the potion. "I will pick you up on Tuesday morning. Do not bring any of your things."

"Yes sir."

Snape apparated away from the back garden, not bothering to check if the Dursleys were home. As a result Harry found himself locked out of the house all day and for the night as well. His uncle had taken his aunt and cousin on a holiday since Harry had been gone with Snape, and hadn't thought to leave Harry a key or even a blanket to wrap up in at night. He shouldn't have been disappointed to come back and find the Dursleys missing, but he was. He wished at least he had access to his owl for the summer so he could write to Ron and Hermione and tell them about the bog full of aconite, and the apprentices who were nicer than they should have been.

"You will not argue with me when I tell you what clothing you will be wearing for the year," Snape said, and Harry frowned up at him, confused. "I already have clothes sir."

"The ratty sweatshirt full of holes and few items of summer clothing you have are insufficient for the winter. While we are out shopping you are to be on your best behavior. Do not beg me for items as I will not purchase them for you. We will be getting only the items on the list."

He handed Harry a piece of muggle lined paper with a list written in the man's loopy cursive.

7 T-shirts
2 Polo Shirts
2 Sweaters
Socks
Underwear
4 Pairs Of Jeans
2 Pairs Of Sweatpants
1 Pair Of Pajama Bottoms
1 Winter Coat
1 Pair Of Winter Gloves
1 Pair Of Sturdy Shoes

Harry raised his eyes at the man again when he looked up from the list. He was buying all of this for him?

Snape sneered down at him and led him off down the street. A few streets away from Camden Alley Harry was led into a muggle clothing store where Snape told him to pick out two sweatshirts from the many racks of them in the men's section. He stalked off towards the racks of t-shirts and Harry wondered what he'd done to anger him.

Harry picked out a dark green zip up hoodie and a dark crimson hoodie with no zipper. Snape was by his side again just as he finished and had 7 T-shirts in plain colors. They looked a lot nicer than the ones aunt Petunia had picked out earlier that summer, and Harry was glad they weren't all in black like the one Snape had given him days ago. There was one black T-shirt, but also a sage green one, an earthy blue shirt, and others in muted colors.

Snape picked out a heavy winter coat, gloves and four pairs of jeans and sent Harry to another part of the store to find two pairs of sweatpants, a pair of pajama bottoms, a package of socks and a package of underwear. When Harry found him again twenty minutes later, Snape had picked out several pairs of shoes and had them waiting for Harry to try on. Of the ones Snape had ready, the pair that fit Harry the best was a pair of thick dark brown hiking boots, so that's what they got. The shopping trip had only taken them an hour, including walking to and from Camden Alley, and Snape had spent just over 200 pounds.

Back at the flat Snape instructed Harry to remove all of the tags and labels and fold all of the clothes neatly. "You will receive your winter hat and scarf at school," he told him before Harry went into the guest room.

"Winter hat and scarf?" Harry asked.

"That is what I said. I have already sent the fee to the Hogwarts clothier."

"You mean I'll get the Gryffindor scarf and hat?"

"What is so difficult to understand Potter?" Snape said, growing irritated.

"I just didn't have those before," Harry said. The other students always got scarves and hats in their house colors, and Harry had had them his first year, but he'd never had money for them after that. Guardians had to send money by owl to Hogwarts over the summer for them, and then they were handed out the first week of school by a student's head of house. Harry always envied Ron and Hermione for having them to keep them warm.

"I will not be paying an ungodly amount of money for personal tailored items Potter. The school scarf and hat are more than adequate and you will wear them when it's cold. I will give you detention if I find that you've caught a cold for refusing to wear them."

"I'll wear them," Harry told him, and went into the guest room to fold the many bags of clothes. Why did the man always have to think the worst of him? He thought Harry wanted more expensive items? Harry was just glad to have anything at all.

* * *

Later that afternoon Snape took Harry out to London again, this time to a store full of school supplies. Harry was happy to be able to get another stack of lined Muggle notebooks, smooth writing muggle pens, pencils, and even a few stacks of sticky notes.

Snape also bought a brown suede leather backpack and Harry was surprised he'd picked one that was so nice as it cost a hefty seventy pounds.

Back at the flat the man didn't give Harry time to put the new items away and instead sent him out with a note and a handful of sickles to get Chinese takeaway on Camden Alley. It was the first time he'd sent Harry on an errand that wasn't going to the apothecary, and it was only the second time so far that Harry had been allowed out on his own on a non-apothecary trip. Snape appeared to know the exact amount for the food he'd ordered on the note he'd sent Harry with, because the woman behind the counter took the note and all of the coins Harry had been sent with before giving him a bag with two boxes of food in it.

A few minutes later as Harry ate, Snape pulled the new school supplies out and set them in two piles.

"The black notebooks are for notes and work you will do as an apprentice. The blue ones are for your other classes. You will take meticulous notes on whatever I assign you to read or study for your apprenticeship, and will keep all of them until the apprenticeship is over. Do not throw the notebooks away, even once they are filled up. Use the sticky notes to organize your notes within books."

Snape pulled a book down from his bookshelf and opened it to show Harry what he meant. There were aging sticky notes inside on random pages with notes the man had written on them.

"All of this might not fit in my trunk with my school things."

"I am aware."

He didn't say anything more than that and left Harry there to eat his dinner. Harry felt like it had been an odd day that had broken their routine. He wasn't sorry to get some time off of brewing potions, but the entire day had been one awkward moment after another.

* * *

The next day was full of more shopping. Snape took Harry to Diagon Alley, where Harry fretted that he might run into his classmates or friends, who would question him about why he was with the Slytherin head of house. He had been secretly afraid for weeks now that the man would tell him he could no longer be friends with Ron and Hermione once he got back to Hogwarts, and prayed now that they wouldn't run into them before school started.

Snape took Harry to Flourish and Blotts where he purchased four books, and then to Slugg And Jiggers apothecary where he purchased three more, these ones all small with brown leather bindings. One of them looked just like the book full of sticky notes that Snape had shown him the night before.

"Ah, apprentice books," the man behind the apothecary counter said with a smile. He eyed Snape for a moment and then his eyes traveled down to Harry. "I heard you'd picked up an apprentice," he said to Snape. "Will this be all or do you need new tools?"

"He already has the necessary tools, but thank you," Snape said. He paid for the purchase and hurried Harry out of the apothecary and down the street to a store that sold trunks in various shapes and sizes.

Hagrid had made sure Harry had a good trunk his first year. It was dark blue and had good hinges and a sturdy lock, but was standard for Hogwarts students. Dean had the same exact one as Harry did, and Ron had a similar one that was deep red. Harry had seen Draco with a more expensive looking trunk, but in general most students had one just like his.

Snape seemed to be buying a new trunk for himself, and Harry was interested to see that he was picking out a square trunk instead of the standard size. It had black leather on the outside and silver hinges. It was just the right size for some books and other things, but not big enough for clothes.

Back at the flat again, Snape didn't take the black trunk to his room though, he levitated it into the guest room Harry was using.

"This is for your potions books, potions notes, and apprentice tools. Do not store anything else in this. It will go with you to Hogwarts."

Harry frowned down at it. He did need more storage with the added potions tools and notes, and Snape was technically supposed to buy what he needed, but he was still surprised he had purchased the nice trunk. It was nicer than any of the ones the other boys in his dorm had. Not as nice as Draco's trunk, but the leather was thick and handsome and the hinges highly polished.

"Is there a problem?" Snape asked testily when Harry had just stared down at the trunk in thought. Harry looked up at him.

"Am I allowed to have two trunks at school?" he asked.

"Yes," the man said, lips pursed, and then he turned on his heel and left the room.

Harry knew he'd have to tell his friends eventually that he'd been sold into apprenticeship slavery, but the new trunk would ensure it would be as soon as he saw them. They'd ask why he had two trunks and what was inside, and he'd have to tell them right away. As much as he feared that Snape would tell him he couldn't have friends anymore, he also feared that Ron would be angry at him for having to spend so much time around the potions master. Harry also hoped that once they got back to school Snape would leave him alone and just let him do his schoolwork, keeping apprenticeship stuff to holidays. Despite what he hoped for, he had a feeling everything would turn out for the worse somehow. Whether Snape banned him from having friends or not, he feared that outcome would come true.

After Harry had put his supply box with his potions tools and gloves into the new black trunk, Snape called him into the living room and told him to bring his new books. Harry was surprised to find two brand new cauldrons on the kitchen counter. They were small, like the ones they used in class, just big enough to brew a small batch of potion, but small enough to fit into a student's trunk, or his new potions trunk.

"These are yours and will go into the potions trunk," Snape told him, indicating the cauldrons. "One is pewter, the other is copper. Certain potions require brewing in a copper cauldron. Do not bring the copper cauldron to class. You will bring the new pewter cauldron to class."

"What about my old one?"

"Bring it here."

Harry retrieved the standard pewter cauldron he'd been using for four years at school, and as soon as he handed it to Snape, the man used his wand to banish it.

"Cauldrons should be replaced periodically," Snape said at the astonished look on Harry's face. "They degrade over time and can ruin potions by contaminating them with particles of metal."

"Shouldn't everyone be getting a new cauldron then?" Harry asked, thinking of Ron and Hermione.

"It is customary for students to get a new cauldron when going into a NEWT level Potions course." Here Snape leveled a stare at Harry and said, "You will be passing your Potions OWL and going into NEWT potions."

"Yes sir." Hermione at least would be thrilled that Harry would be studying potions with her this year for his OWLs. He knew Ron's goal was to pass all of his OWLs and then drop potions, but Harry couldn't be so lucky. He supposed it would look bad for a potions apprentice to fail his OWLs.

Seeing that Harry wasn't going to argue with him, Severus sat down on the couch and told Harry to bring the five new apprentice books to the coffee table. Harry did so, sitting in the comfortable chair instead of next to his potions master on the sofa.

"These are your apprentice books. These hold all of the necessary information to pass the apprenticeship exam at the end of the first two years. Apprentices who move on to a second apprenticeship get more advanced books. The same goes for those moving on to their third two year apprenticeship."

All five of the books were relatively small in size, and thin. All of them were bound in brown leather, and some had a strap to hold them closed, possibly to keep notes inside from falling out.

"Each of these books covers its own subject. This one is on composition of all classes of potions. It must be memorized as you will be tested on potions from each of the 27 classes. You will not know which potions you are being tested on, so you must know the basic makeup of each class of potions."

Harry thought that sounded rather complicated and hoped his brain wouldn't melt trying to memorize all the information.

Snape held up the next book and said, "This book covers ingredients, their properties, where they can be found, and other pertinent information. You will memorize it."

Harry's heart sank as Snape picked up the third book, knowing the man would tell him to memorize all of them. At least he had two years to do it, though with his other schoolwork he felt like it would be impossible. Maybe if he focused on memorizing these books over holidays and really buckled down in the summer he could get it all done.

The third book was about the history of potions, and while he wasn't told to memorize this one, he was told to know all the dates and names inside. The fourth book was the thinnest and was about rare potions and their uses, and the final book was about the laws of potion making in the UK as well as in other major countries across the world.

"This is the most important book," Snape told him about the law book. "If you do not follow the laws in whatever country you are gathering ingredients from or making potions in, you could find yourself in jail, pay heavy fines, or be banned from making potions or gathering ingredients. I will be very displeased if you break any of these laws as it will reflect poorly on me. As you are an underage apprentice, if you break one of these laws I will be the one responsible for paying the fines or doing jail time."

"Yes sir. Am I being tested on this one?"

Snape glared at him. "You will know all of the information necessary."

Harry fidgeted for a moment, wondering how many countries were in the book. He wanted to ask if he could just read the information for the isles but didn't want to get yelled at.

"You have something you wish to say?" Snape asked.

"No sir."

The man sighed heavily, as though it was trying to talk with Harry, and said, "It is important that you ask so that you are clear on all the information given to you."

Harry pulled his hands back and tried to stop fidgeting. "Can I just read the laws for our Ministry of Magic right now and then read the laws for other countries if I ever have to go to them?"

Snape pursed his lips but didn't seem angry. "That is a prudent course of action."

Harry relaxed a little. It wasn't a compliment, was it? Definitely not, he decided. Snape rarely complimented anyone, and never Harry.

"You are to study these books throughout the school year. I will be testing you on the information found inside of these books frequently. If I find that you have not been studying enough, you will find yourself studying in my office under my supervision during your free time at school."

Harry began to fidget again.

"Say whatever you have to say Potter," Snape said. He was definitely exasperated now.

Harry looked over at the five books. "Could you tell me how much is enough? I mean, I'll be studying sir, but how many chapters per week of each one do you want me to do?" He didn't think he could keep his grades up if he was bogged down memorizing these books.

Instead of scolding him Snape got up and got a muggle style pen and a stack of his own muggle sticky notes and scribbled something down. When that note was full he started another, and another until he had five. He put one note inside the front cover of each book and said, "That is your timetable."

Harry picked one of the books up and opened the cover. The note inside said, ‘Read the book all the way through once by Christmas.' Then there was a bulleted list underneath listing the months until Summer that read, ‘January Chapter 1, February Chapter 2, March Chapter 3...'

"The first time through each book you are reading for a general idea of what the book entails. After that you will study each chapter for one month to work on getting a full understanding of the material. You are not expected to have the information memorized completely until the end of your second year. At the pace outlined in the notes you will be ready to begin memorization of the information by the start of the next school year, and can spend your second year of apprenticeship memorizing for the test."

Harry didn't want to study this extra material at all, but he thought it was doable and felt relief that he wasn't expected to have these books memorized right away. If he was just supposed to read through them each once by Christmas and wasn't expected to test on them yet, he could try to get through a couple of them in the last few weeks of summer.

"Once you begin thoroughly studying after Christmas I will begin testing you on what is in the chapters you have studied."

"Yes sir."

Snape told him to pack up and get ready to go back to his relatives, and to leave his potions trunk and new items for school here, but to take at least one of the apprenticeship books. Before they left the flat to go back to Little Whinging, Severus said, "You are returning home for three days. Do not check out any library books. The next time I collect you, you will be going to Hogwarts with me for the remaining three weeks of summer. Have all of your belongings ready to go when I pick you up on Sunday."

"We're going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked. He'd never been to the school in the summer before, despite having asked the Headmaster several times if he could stay there instead of going home for holidays.

"I have work to do and you have potions to brew and books to study," was all Harry got in response.

Snape took him back to his relatives, and when Harry relayed the information to his family, his uncle was gleeful that they'd be getting three full weeks that summer without him. "What did I tell you boy? Better than a job at the library isn't it? You're getting plenty of time to study and should be on track for that other thing you wanted to do, right? What was it? Something to do with studying weather? Aurora borealis?"

Harry just stared at him, open mouthed. His uncle had put time into learning about what Harry wanted and was interested in, but not for Harry, only to impress his boss. Now just over a month later he seemed to have put it from his mind altogether.

"Yeah," Harry said lamely, "that was it." He could tell his uncle again, tell him about aurors and the Ministry and law enforcement, but he didn't see the point. His uncle didn't care and never would. Harry had always known that, had known that truth from the start of his uncle's questions that summer. He went upstairs to his room to pack, angry with himself for being upset about it... angry that he'd let himself pretend at all that his uncle had been interested in his life that summer. Pretending was only being cruel to himself, because it was only putting off the disappointment of reality until later on. Harry had done enough pretending in his life living with the Dursleys to know that, yet he'd done it anyway.

As Harry lay in bed that night, waiting for the next few days to pass before Snape collected him again, he wondered why he never pretended with Snape. He didn't pretend to be loved or wanted or liked there above Camden Alley, but he did every summer when he came back to Privet Drive.

"Do they at least have a library where you're going?" she asked.

He nodded. "A big one," he said. He couldn't describe the Hogwarts library to her without telling her where it was, so instead he settled on telling her, "My uncle, the one I'm living with now is into herbs and plants. He bought me a bunch of books about them so I've got lots to read for a while."

"Botany is a wonderful subject, isn't it?" she enthused.

Harry was sorry to say goodbye to her for the year, but reminded himself that so long as Snape didn't keep him locked up in the dungeons for the next few weeks he could go to visit Hagrid, check out books from the school library, and maybe even talk to some of the professors at school he liked. He'd always imagined what life would be like over the summer if he lived at Hogwarts, and now he supposed he'd get a chance to find out.

Snape picked him up early Sunday morning and took hold of Hedwig's bird cage as they apparated away.

"Where is your owl?" he asked.

"Ron has her," Harry said. "I'm not allowed to keep her over the summer. She roosts in one of Ron's sheds all summer and he uses her to send letters so she doesn't get bored."

Snape sighed as he set the cage down on the counter in the flat's small kitchen. "I didn't ask for your owl's life story Potter," he said. "Get all of your things together in a pile by the front door." He turned and went into his own room, presumably to gather his own things, leaving Harry standing there, stunned.

It was probably the most he'd ever said to Snape. It was just a few sentences... something he would have said to anyone who asked him, yet Snape had been irritated. He remembered for a moment the way Leighton and his master Rand, and Soren and his master Edric spoke to each other. They bantered back and forth, and talked like friends, or at least colleagues. Harry wasn't surprised that wasn't allowed here with Snape, but he wished it were. It wasn't that he wanted to have a friendly chat with the man about owls, but it would have been nice to be allowed to talk without feeling like he had to tiptoe around him all the time. It would have been nice to not have to feel like he was always with the Dursleys even when he wasn't.

"If your things aren't gathered in the next five minutes, we will be leaving them behind," Snape said with distaste when he came out of his room with his own trunk and saw Harry still standing there.

Harry looked down as he moved around him and into the guest room to get his potions trunk and other remaining items he hadn't been allowed to take back to the Dursleys.

A few minutes later, all of the items the two of them were taking to Hogwarts were gathered by the front door.

Snape did a spell that washed the items of luggage in a deep blue light, and then when the light dissipated, Harry found that there was a tag on the side of each piece of luggage that read, ‘Severus Snape, Hogwarts Potions Master.'

"It is too much to take via apparation. Apparating more than a few times in an hour is draining, especially with luggage or other people in tow. We will be taking the train," he said.

Harry wanted to ask why all of his things were labeled as Snape's as well, but figured it must be just so they could keep all of their items together since they were going to the same place.

Snape touched the top of Hedwig's cage, which was on top of the pile, and then gripped Harry's wrist and they disapparated with a pop, appearing on platform nine and three quarters with the entire heaping pile of luggage. The spell he'd done must have kept it all together for apparation. The man did look drained and Harry wondered if he could only apparate short distances with this much luggage. It made sense, or else they would have just gone straight to Hogwarts.

"Tickets?" a train conductor asked a moment later. He must have seen them apparate in and had come over to them.

Snape pulled two tickets out of an inner pocket of his robes and handed them over.

"Luggage?" the man asked, eyeing the stack of luggage.

Snape indicated the pile.

"Elves will have it loaded before the train pulls out," the conductor said. He handed the tickets back to Snape and motioned towards the train.

Snape moved towards an open train car door and Harry followed.

Harry had never ridden the Hogwarts Express unless it was to and from school with his friends, so he was interested to see that it ran in the summer at all. They found an empty compartment without issue. There was a woman and her two young children in the hall finding a compartment of their own, an aging man that looked too old to travel anywhere, and a younger man directing houseleves to load a half dozen huge crates of books into a cargo carriage further down the train.

"Are they all going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked when they were finally inside their own compartment and had the door closed.

"Blackpool, Edinburgh, Hogsmeade," Snape said, looking out the window as if he were entirely uninterested in the conversation. "The train goes past them all on the way to Hogwarts and there are magical communities in each of those places. The start and end of the school year are the only times it skips them."

A few moments later some of their luggage popped into the compartment with them. All three of their trunks appeared in the overhead storage, and Harry's backpack along with a leather case appeared on the floor by the door. Hedwig's cage was there as well.

Harry moved for his new leather bookbag which was full of his apprentice books and pulled one out to read. He'd been reading since Snape had bought them three days ago hoping to get as much done as he could before school started so he didn't have to think about his apprenticeship at all at Hogwarts. Snape seemed to approve of Harry's choice to pull out the apprentice book on laws and moved for his leather case. He opened it up and pulled out a box of muggle highlighters.

"Use these."

Harry looked up to see him holding out the box with four thin highlighters in it. "Sir?"

"They are your books. Use these to highlight things you wish to remember. Write notes in the margins. Do whatever you must to retain the information. These are your highlighters. They have a never-ending ink charm on them, but the tips will wear out and fray eventually. When they do, tell me and I will get more."

Harry took the highlighters uncertainly and pulled out a red one. Hermione always came to school armed with boxes of highlighters like these, but he'd never used them. Experimentally he pulled the cap off of the red one and ran it over a word on page 14 he would have to look up later and was pleased when light red ink shone over the word, making it easily distinguishable from the others on the page. He flipped the page over and was even happier to see that the ink hadn't bled through. The pages were thicker than his school textbooks and he wondered if it was because these books were meant to be written in. Snape certainly seemed to think so.

The train pulled out of the station twenty minutes later, and Harry read and highlighted for two hours before Snape interrupted him to give him a handful of coins.

"Take this down to the caboose and buy lunch for both of us."

"From the lady with the sweet trolley?" Harry asked. He was surprised Snape wanted sweets, and also that the sweets lady hadn't been by yet. She usually made rounds on the train ride to school within the first hour, and then again a few hours later.

"From the meal car," Snape said. When Harry frowned, uncertain what he was talking about, Snape sighed and said, "Go out the door to the left. Go to the last car. Buy lunch. Come back."

Harry stood up with the coins he'd been handed and wished the man hadn't felt the need to talk down to him like a small child.

Out in the corridor Harry turned left and walked down the train. He'd never been all the way to the end before. Generally he and his friends found a car in the middle of the train and stayed put until they got to their destination.

At the end of the train, just as Snape had said, there was a meal car. It was little more than a small kitchen with a house elf and a cranky old man serving food. There was nowhere to sit and eat as it appeared that passengers were supposed to take their food back to their own train compartments.

"What'll it be?" the man asked as the house elf worked away behind him at the stove, frying up vegetables in a pan.

"Lunch?" Harry asked.

The man grinned, revealing some missing teeth. "Yeah, and what'll you have for lunch?"

"Erm- I'm not sure. What is there?" Harry looked around but didn't see a menu on the walls. Instead the man pointed down at the counter and Harry saw a menu taped to it.

"Sunday," the man said, pointing to a column that said ‘Sunday'.

It looked like there were cold and hot sandwiches, eggs, crisps, coffee, tea, and scones. Snape had said lunch, so Harry assumed he didn't want eggs and bangers.

"Two hot roast beef sandwiches," Harry said. He looked at the coins in his hand. It seemed Snape had given him more than enough. "And a cup of peppermint tea and a cup of coffee."

"Cream?" the man asked. He pointed to the menu to show there were a few flavors of cream to go in the coffee. Harry wasn't sure what kind Snape liked, but he had seen him pouring creamer into his coffee in the mornings.

"Hazlenut?" Harry asked.

The man rang up the purchase on an ancient till, and Harry handed over seven sickles and two knuts. The house elf had the food finished before Harry had even finished paying. The two hot drinks were in throwaway paper cups with lids so they wouldn't spill, and the sandwiches were in a paper bag.

"Crisps?" the man asked. He pointed to several kinds of wizarding crisps and Harry handed over four more knuts and then took two bags of crisps and put them in the bag.

"Thank you," he told the man and house elf, and left the caboose.

When he got back to their compartment he handed Snape the coffee, a bag of crisps and a hot sandwich, and then took his own to the other bench seat across the little compartment and sat to eat his lunch as he stared out the train window. When he was done eating, he remembered the change and gave it back to Snape before settling in for more studying.

The law book hadn't taken Harry as long to get through as he thought. The section on the British Ministry of Magic laws was relatively short, only fifteen pages, and Harry had already been through it twice now. It was boring stuff, but Snape had been right, it was important to know. There was an entire list of banned magical substances that they'd need special permission from the Ministry to gather or use in potions, such as asphodel, which was highly addictive and illegal to buy, sell, grow, or trade. Even having it in his possession was illegal if he didn't have a signed permit from the Ministry.

The book detailed how to go about getting a permit for special use substances, how to store those substances (and other dangerous potions and ingredients), and even had laws for apprenticeships, though they were few and were rules that had already been explained to Harry. For the most part the rules all seemed sensible enough.

Harry spent almost twenty minutes underlining and highlighting in the section about bringing ingredients and potions in from other countries. Apparently you could gather ingredients from anywhere under Ministry of Magic rule, but if you brought in ingredients from other countries, they had to go through a customs process. Once the customs office at the Ministry approved what you were bringing in and you paid a fee (ten sickles per substance being evaluated), you could do what you wanted with your ingredients, including selling them to others.

"Are certain potions ingredients more expensive at the apothecary because a fee had to be paid at customs?"

"That, plus travel expenses to gather items from out of country or to pay someone else to gather them or sell them to you," Snape said. "Some items are expensive simply because they are rare or dangerous to gather."

"Is that why Soren is training to gather dragon scales?" Harry asked.

Snape looked up from the paperwork he'd been doing. Harry hadn't asked what he was working on, but assumed it was something to do with upcoming classes at the start of term.

"There is no training to gather those materials, only a willingness to risk your own life for them. Soren is one of the few in the isles willing to gather ingredients in such a way. He will be a rich man if he doesn't die young. Often those that gather those sorts of materials stop as soon as they get married, and move on to more mundane potions work. Soren is crazy."

Harry raised his brows. He wasn't used to hearing Snape put down other potions masters or apprentices in such a way.

"Do not repeat that," Snape warned him.

"I won't."

"Master Edric has warned him off of gathering dangerous ingredients several times, but he continues to do so on his own time."

"Isn't all of his time apprentice time?" Harry asked.

Severus stared at him from across the small compartment. "Is all of yours?"

Harry frowned. It was, wasn't it?

With a heavy sigh Severus said, "Read the law book again. Pay attention to the parts that talk about apprenticeship rights."

Harry flipped to the part about apprenticeships again and re-read the entire section. He couldn't figure out what Snape was hinting at, though there was a section about, ‘rights of the wizard', though it only referred to something else and didn't explain. Harry flipped to the appendix in the back of the book and used his finger to move down the page under ‘W'. He found ‘Wizard Rights' near the middle, looked at the page number, and flipped to page 112, which was just a few pages before the appendix.

‘All apprentices are subject to wizard rights under Ministry Law 17. Apprentices do not need to be paid for apprenticeship work, however they must be allowed the minimum amount of free time to tend to daily life (see subsection 17.2), and to work as necessary for compensation if not being compensated by their apprentice master.'

There was more about Ministry law 17, like that wizards had the right to a safe work environment (including during apprenticeships), that jobs had to allow time off for a minimum number of hours per day for sleeping, eating and bathing (10 hours), and that people under the age of 17 weren't allowed to work unless with permission of a parent or guardian (which was why apprenticeships for those under 17 required a transfer of guardianship to the apprentice master, so they could give them ‘permission' to work).

Harry underlined and highlighted in this section too. He'd had no idea about the rights he had under the Ministry until now. He knew muggles had laws like this, but wasn't sure what exactly those were. The book made mention about other subsections of Ministry Law 17, but they weren't outlined in this book as those laws pertained to people in general, not those in the workforce or apprenticeships.

He spent the rest of the trainride flipping around in the back of the law book and reading the sections here as they had interesting information that pertained to apprentices, and finally looked up around seven and found that they were nearing Hogsmeade.

"Put your things back in your bag," Snape instructed. "You can take it with you. The rest of the luggage will be sent to the castle."

Harry's stomach grumbled as the train pulled into the station and they got off. They were the only ones getting off here, aside from the man with his many wooden crates of books, which were apparently going to a new store in Hogsmeade.

Snape and Harry walked up the long dirt drive to Hogwarts in silence, and when they got near the steps leading up into the castle, Snape said, "The Headmaster is expecting you."

"Sir?"

"Go directly to the Headmaster's office and then come to my office afterward to collect your things. Dinner is already over, but you can still eat in the Great Hall if you tap the table with your wand."

"Am I in trouble?"

"You are not. You are the first apprentice at Hogwarts in 12 years. There are new rules you must be acquainted with."

Snape didn't tell him twice, and instead left him in the Entrance Hall to do as he was told. Harry took a breath, tried to squash the nervousness inside himself, and went up to the third floor to the stone gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office.

He didn't need to tell it a password, because it seemed he was expected like Snape had said. The gargoyle moved to the side and Harry went up the spiral stairs.

"Harry, come in my boy," Dumbledore called from inside after Harry knocked on the large wooden door. Harry tried to let his anxiety leave him at the smile the Headmaster wore.

"Have a seat," Dumbledore said. "I expect your trip on the train went well?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." The man's smile faltered a little, not fading entirely, but suddenly he didn't seem pleased anymore. "Harry, I wasn't expecting you to take an apprenticeship before you came of age."

"I wasn't expecting it either sir," he said.

"Hm. Severus did explain some of the situation to me. Would you mind telling me how this came to be yourself?"

Harry fidgeted with the strap on his new suede backpack. "It was my uncle's idea. He said my potions grade needed help and when we ran into Professor Snape on Diagon Alley the two of them set it up without me."

"I see." Dumbledore nodded, sighed heavily (though not in an irritated way like Snape usually did), and said, "I know you and Professor Snape do not always see eye to eye or get along. Despite that you may not have wanted this apprenticeship, it may be in your best interest for the time being."

"Sir?"

Albus leveled a serious gaze across his desk at Harry and steepled his fingers. "Are you aware of the way the news has been portraying the two of us this summer?"

Harry shook his head and Albus pulled several old copies of The Daily Prophet out of his desk and slid them over to Harry. He let Harry read the headlines on the front page of each for a few moments and said, "The Ministry does not want to believe, or want others to believe that Voldemort has returned. To combat what you told your friends at the end of the tournament, and what I told the school at Cedric's funeral a few days later, they have decided to slander us both to make the public question what we have said. It is their official stance that Voldemort has not returned, and that you and I have lied to the public."

"But-" Harry sputtered, mind whirring, "that's crazy! He is back!" He looked up at the Headmaster, eyes full of panic and said meekly, "You believe me, don't you?"

"Myself, Professor Snape, the rest of the staff, and many students who have parents within Voldemort's ranks. The truth is not hard to discover, but the Ministry is often not focused on finding the truth."

Harry stared back down at the newspapers in disbelief. He kept up with The Prophet sometimes during the school year, but because Ron always had his owl in the summer he rarely got news of the wizarding world at all unless his friends sent him a letter with their owls.

"You said- the apprenticeship was in my best interest-" Harry started, looking up at him again. "Why?"

"Technically the Ministry has no role at Hogwarts, but this year they've insisted on providing the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. Her name is Delores Umbridge, and she is here primarily to discredit the two of us. She's not to be trusted, for many reasons, not least of which is that she was almost expelled in her time at Hogwarts for using dark magic."

Harry raised his eyebrows at that. "She will do whatever it takes to further the Ministry agenda. What exactly that means, I don't know yet. She only arrived a few days ago, and it will be difficult to tell what her plans are until school starts. With that being said, as an apprentice, you have different rules to follow than the rest of the students. This could be a protection for you from her this year."

"Master Snape said there were different rules, but he didn't say what they were," Harry said.

"You are still under all school rules," the Headmaster said, leaning back. "However, because you're an apprentice, you are also under whatever rules or orders Professor Snape gives you as your apprentice master. For instance, curfew for fifth through seventh years is nine pm, but if Professor Snape has given you direct permission for some reason to be out after nine pm, you would need to follow his orders first, and school rules second."

"Do you think he'd let me stay out late?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore laughed, "I highly doubt it," he said. "This special rule also pertains to punishment however. As he is your apprentice master and is also a staff member at this school, any discipline will go through him. Another teacher can assign you detention, but it would have to be done with him, or if he decided the detention was unwarranted, he could cancel it altogether."

"Or he could take away Quidditch and tell me I can't be friends with Ron and Hermione," Harry grouched, feeling comfortable enough there with the Headmaster to do so. He liked Dumbledore, and the aging man had always made Harry feel as though he was on his side, even though he'd never let him stay at Hogwarts over the summer instead of going home.

"As it so happens, he may not take away privileges that are provided all students at the school. He could not make you leave the Quidditch team unless your grades slipped below A's for more than one month, as that is the rule for all students. The same can be said of who you are friends with. He can however give you as many detentions as he feels is necessary."

"And this is supposed to help me?" Harry asked, skeptical.

"It is my belief that Delores Umbridge will try to catch you at any wrongdoing she can so she can report that wrongdoing back to the Ministry. With all of your ‘punishment's' to be handled by Professor Snape, it will allow the staff the chance to cancel any unfair punishments she hands out to you. It will give us oversight."

"Do you think master Snape will let me get out of anything? He always believes I'm guilty."

"We shall see," Dumbledore said meditatively. He looked across his desk at Harry again. "Do you understand all that I've said about how the rules apply to you in this new way? If Professor Snape has told you to do something contrary to school rules, and a teacher asks you about it, you must tell them you are doing what Professor Snape has told you to do."

"Yes sir."

"This has been the way of things with students under apprenticeship at the school for three hundred years. In the distant past it was more common to have students under apprenticeship to teachers at the school. Now, when it happens it's infrequent, and students are sometimes under apprenticeship to masters not teaching at the school. This rule allows student apprentices to make arrangements to go to work for their apprentice masters on evenings or weekends, or to engage in apprenticeship activities at the school. If for instance Professor Snape takes you out to collect potions ingredients at night after curfew, this rule makes that possible."

"I understand." Harry had really hoped he'd be relieved of the apprenticeship during the school year. That hope seemed dashed now.

"You are still to do what other teachers tell you (within reason)," he added, "I'm speaking specifically of Delores Umbridge when I say within reason. But if what a teacher tells you contradicts what Professor Snape has instructed you to do, you should follow what Severus has told you first."

Harry wasn't pleased to find out that Snape had complete control of him at Hogwarts, but was relieved to find out that the ‘extra rules' he had to follow weren't too severe.

"There is something else," the Headmaster said, and Harry's eyes came back around to him.

"Sir?"

"Professor Snape has decided that for now you will continue living in Gryffindor tower. You are still a Gryffindor and will continue to be until you graduate. However, an apprentice master who also teaches at the school can decide to have you live in apprentice quarters."

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"There's a set of rooms in each part of the castle set aside for apprentice students. He could assign you to an apprentice room in the dungeons or another part of the castle if he chose to, meaning you would have a quiet place to study, conduct apprentice work, and sleep. You would still be allowed access to Gryffindor tower, but you would have to sleep in your apprentice quarters each night. If he assigns you to apprentice quarters there are other rules you would have to follow."

"What are the rules?"

"You would not be allowed to have any student of the opposite sex in apprentice quarters."

Harry nodded. That was reasonable and expected. Girls weren't allowed in the boys dorms in Gryffindor tower and visa versa, even though Hermione sometimes chose to ignore that rule to come up and berate Ron and Harry for hiding in the dorms instead of studying.

"If you were to be assigned to apprentice quarters you would also be granted Prefect status."

"Prefect?" Harry asked. "Why?"

"Prefects are given leeway to travel the corridors at night as they have need to patrol, to go to the kitchens for food when their prefect duties require them to miss meals, and to do other things like assign and take away points from errant students. As it stands now, you are given some of those same permissions as a student apprentice, but would be given full Prefect status if assigned to apprentice quarters. Being assigned to apprentice quarters is to be set apart from the rest of the student body, such as the Prefects are."

"So I'd be able to assign or take away points too?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "You would also be assigned Prefect duties such as patrolling corridors. Quidditch captains are also made Prefects, however Quidditch captains and student apprentices who gain Prefect status this way are not eligible to be Head Boy or Girl."

Harry's head was spinning. He had never wanted to be a Prefect. Ron was proud to be one because his parents were proud of him for it, and Hermione loved taking on the extra duty of helping other students, but Harry had a hard enough time taking care of himself as it was. He did want to be Quidditch captain someday, but he didn't want to be assigned apprentice quarters. He wanted to be in the dorms with his friends. All Harry had ever wanted to do was to blend in. He didn't want to be set apart more than his status as The-Boy-Who-Lived already made him.

Dumbledore gave a soft chuckle at the horrified look on Harry's face. "You may take some comfort in knowing that Severus most probably does not want you to have Prefect status. That alone may be deterrent enough to moving you out of the dorms in Gryffindor."

"Yes sir." A thought struck Harry then. "He can't make me live with him, can he? In his quarters I mean?"

"It would be the same as assigning you apprentice quarters. As an apprentice if you are not in your house dormitory you are given Prefect status. Have things been so terrible for you with him this summer?"

Harry's cheeks heated up then. He was close to putting Snape down, and Snape wouldn't have any of that. "Not so bad sir," Harry said. It was the truth too. He hadn't enjoyed it, but in some ways it was almost better than being with the Dursleys.

"You must be hungry. If you have questions about the way the rules apply to you now with your new status, you may come to me, Professor Snape, or Professor McGonagall. As your head of house and deputy headmistress Professor McGonagall is tasked with ensuring you are doing well with student apprentice rules as well as with your wellbeing." Dumbledore stood up and motioned for the door. "Has Professor Snape told you about getting meals after mealtimes have ended?"

Harry stood up. "He said I could tap Gryffindor table with my wand."

"You may also go to the kitchens to receive a meal, though I must warn you, if you are asking the elves for snacks instead of meals, they may become irritated enough to refuse you."

"Yes sir."

"Goodnight Harry. Let me know if there's anything you need help with this year."

"Yes sir. Goodnight."

Harry left the Headmaster's office entirely unsure of how he felt about these new rules. Dumbledore had tried to spin these rules in a positive light, but he just wasn't sure. He needed to eat and then go to sleep so he didn't have to think about it anymore that night. Between the new rules and reading all day on the train, he had a headache behind his left eye that was getting worse as the evening wore on.

Harry went to the empty Entrance Hall and sat at the end of Gryffindor table. He tapped his wand on the table and a steaming plate of roast chicken with green beans appeared along with a glass of pumpkin juice. He dug into the meal and then took his bag and hurried to Snape's office. He didn't want to get yelled at for keeping the man waiting.

Snape was inside with his door open, which was unusual, and waved Harry inside when he found him standing in the door frame.

He motioned to Harry's two trunks and owl cage, which were sitting on the floor of his office and said, "Levitate these to your dorm room. Fifth year curfew applies to you starting now. Do not let me find you out of the dorms after curfew without a good cause. Come back tomorrow morning after breakfast, no later than nine."

"Yes sir."

Harry wondered how he was going to levitate two trunks and Hedwig's cage all at once and decided against trying. Instead he held Hedwig's cage in one hand and used his wand to levitate his square black potions trunk out of the office and down to the end of the corridor. There he set Hedwig's cage down and went back down the hall to levitate his school trunk. He did this up through the castle, stopping at the end of every corridor to go back to the previous corridor and retrieve whichever trunk he had left behind.

Finally back in Gryffindor tower for the night, Harry sighed in relief. Here at least, he felt safe from Snape and extra apprentice rules, from this Umbridge woman, and from all of the anxiety that had been building up over the summer about the start of the school year.

Harry nudged the desk he shared with Ron aside a little and put the black square trunk between it and the wall, and then settled his school trunk at the foot of his bed in its normal spot. He tried to block everything from the Headmaster's office out of his mind as he put his new clothes away in his half of the wardrobe he shared with Ron.

Deciding not to make his headache any worse that evening by continuing to read his apprentice books, Harry lay in bed and sighed heavily. Tomorrow he would borrow a school owl and send a letter to Ron asking him to send Hedwig to Hogwarts. At least he'd get to spend the last few weeks of summer with his familiar. He might feel less alone then with her in the dormitory until the other fifth year boys came back to school.

* * *

Harry got his first glimpse of Professor Umbridge the next morning at breakfast. Apparently the staff abandoned the staff table in the summer and sat at one end of Ravenclaw table. Harry didn't want to intrude to sit with them since he was neither staff nor a Ravenclaw, so he sat at the end of Gryffindor table and tried to ignore the conversation Umbridge was having with Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey about laws pertaining to non-human creatures with magical abilities. Because he never looked up at the staff, he didn't know if they had noticed him or not. He ate quickly and left to go to Professor Snape's office.

Snape was there with the door open again when he arrived.

"I have work to do for the next few weeks, including brewing all of the required potions for the infirmary," he informed Harry. He was shuffling several stacks of parchment around on his desk.

"Take the key to the upper year potions classroom and set up six cauldrons for brewing. Get out all of the supplies for bruise balm and pepperup potion, and if you have time look through the student store room and pull out any ingredients that have turned or gone bad. Do not start brewing until I get there."

"Yes sir." He was surprised Snape was trusting him to do all of that. Sometimes he trusted Harry to mop floors alone in detention, but that was quite different than giving him the key to a classroom and sending him to set things up for brewing.

Harry was just glad he hadn't been set to reading that morning. His headache was gone after a good night's sleep, but he knew if he had to read all day it would come right back.

He turned the old fashioned key in the lock to the potions room for fifth through seventh years and went in, leaving the door open and pocketing the key. He couldn't remember all of the ingredients to pepperup potion, but Snape kept first through seventh year student text books in all three of the potions classrooms, so it wasn't hard to figure out.

Harry set up all six of the spare cauldrons kept in the supply cupboard and set them out, three on one table and three on another, and then set out supplies for bruise balm on one table and pepperup potion on the other. He was halfway through surveying the potions supply cupboard when Snape came in with his black leather case full of paperwork. He set the paperwork down on the desk, came to look over the two workstations Harry had set up, and then sat down at his teacher's desk under the blackboard.

"Start three cauldrons of bruise balm. You will be serving detention on the first day of school if you waste ingredients ruining these potions."

"Yes sir."

Bruise balm was a first year potion and he'd had to brew it that summer, so he could understand how Snape would be angry if he brewed three botched batches of it. The ingredients to bruise balm weren't that expensive (Harry knew after so many trips to the apothecary that summer), but he didn't desire earning detention before school had even started that year.

Using the first year potions textbook just to be sure he had the recipe right, Harry got all three cauldrons set and ready to go with potions bubbling in under ten minutes. Without being asked he moved to the other table to start the pepperup potion.

"I didn't ask you to start that," Snape said.

Harry stopped what he was doing. He had been about to measure out elderberry juice to get the pepperup started. "I'm sorry," he said.

Snape waved him away. "Continue. What I said before is true of this potion as well."

"Detention," Harry said quietly.

Snape didn't respond and Harry set to work brewing. Pepperup potion had more ingredients than bruise balm, but it was only a third year potion, and one Harry had also been made to brew that summer. After twenty minutes he had all three cauldrons on the second table bubbling away with pepperup. He moved to the first table to check the bruise balm and was pleased that it had already thickened. He canceled his flame charm under the bruise balm cauldrons, giving each one final stir, and then went back to the pepperup table. The pepperup had to be stirred vigorously for sixty seconds every few minutes or it would burn so Harry didn't have time to tin the bruise balm right away.

Snape seemed content to ignore him while he worked on whatever he was doing, though just before Harry was ready to cancel the flames below his pepperup potion cauldrons, Snape said, "You will need to get containers from the corridor storeroom. The password is Caldus Major."

Harry nodded in response, mind busy trying to repeat the password to himself so he didn't forget and have to ask again, and when he was finally done with the pepperup potion he went out into the corridor and down to the other potions supply cupboard. This closet was usually closed to lower years, and he'd only seen inside it once last year when Snape had accused him of stealing supplies to brew polyjuice potion that he'd had nothing to do with.

There were floor to ceiling shelves on three walls, as there was in each student potions supply cupboard. One entire wall of this room had various containers and phials for storing potions and ingredients in. Harry found an empty wooden crate and began putting little metal tins with lids into it as well as round glass phials with stoppers. He took them back to the potions room and began with the tins and bruise balm first since it was already cool. He didn't want to wait longer than he had to or it would congeal so much that it would be a mess to get into the tins.

Three small cauldrons of potion made for exactly forty tins of bruise balm. Harry did his best to smooth the top of each cream over before he put a lid on it. He'd get yelled at if it looked sloppy. He had to go back to the corridor store room to find a towel which he used to wipe down the sides of the bruise balm tins to ensure they looked clean and presentable. He stacked the tins up in eight neat rows and then moved to the other table to decant the bright red pepperup potion into the round glass phials. This was not easy as the mouth and neck of the glass was small, so he had to go to the supply cupboard again for a funnel and a smaller potions ladle with a thinner more pointed edge so he could pour the potion without making such a mess.

Almost two hours had passed when he was done with the work and had cleaned the six cauldrons out. He startled when he turned around and found Snape right behind him, hands behind his back as he surveyed the rows of pepperup potion bottles.

He picked one up, pulled the cork out, sniffed it, looked at it, swirled it around, and finally stuck a pinky inside and put a drop on his tongue to taste it. "More peppermint next time," he commented. "Students complain when it tastes bad."

Harry raised his brows. He'd always suspected that Snape brewed the potions for the Hospital Wing, but given how most of them tasted he was surprised to hear that the man cared at all. He held out the bottle for Harry and Harry stuck his pinky finger inside too. The man was right. It tasted bitter and was missing the minty finish that made it bearable.

"Do I need to re-brew it sir?"

"This is acceptable. Adding extra peppermint will not harm the potion in any way however. Keep that in mind the next time you brew it."

"Yes sir."

He moved to the table with the neat stacks of bruise balm tins and opened up one from the top of each stack. He used a clean finger to test one of them by rubbing it into the back of his wrist.

"Acceptable," he said. "Put them in the crate and deliver them to madam Pomfrey."

He turned to look at the crate Harry had used to bring in supplies and said, "Return to the corridor supply cupboard and retrieve the black crate. It has cushioning charms on it and dividers to store bottles so they don't break."

Harry went and found one of several crates with this description and brought it back. He loaded each pepperup phial into its own compartment in the crate, and then used a satchel Snape brought him to carry the tins of bruise balm. With the satchel on top of the black crate, Harry left and made his way up through the castle.

Madam Pomfrey was in the Hospital Wing waiting for him it seemed.

"There you are Harry," she said with a smile. "I wondered if you'd be by with some potions for me today. Did you brew these?"

"Yes maam," he said with a smile. He loved Madam Pomfrey as most students did. She was always friendly, never berated him for getting hurt (though she did if she thought you'd been fighting), and always healed his injuries. Potions couldn't make him smile, even if he had brewed them, but her friendly greeting could.

"What have you brought me today?" she asked as Harry set the crate down on the desk in her office at the end of the ward. "Hm, pepperup," she said. "How did it come out?"

"Not enough peppermint," he said. "I'll do better next time."

"I'm sure you will," she said.

He opened the sack of tins and handed one to her for inspection.

"This bruise balm looks good." She did the same thing as Snape had done and took a small amount to spread on the back of her wrist.

"Why do you do that?" Harry asked.

"Professor Snape didn't tell you?"

Harry shook his head.

"Here." She held out the tin to him. "Put some on your wrist. What do you feel?"

Harry rubbed some into his wrist. "It's tingly," he said.

"Anything else?"

He thought about it and then shook his head.

"It's easy to tell if it's not made right. It will have a cooling sensation if you haven't heated it long enough. It will be too thick if you've heated it too long or haven't added enough water, and too thin if too much water was used. It should tingle when it touches skin without a bruise, and nothing else. You did a great job with this."

Harry shrugged. "It's just a first year potion," he said. Hermione could have made it in her sleep, and he was pretty sure Ginny made it on weekends to use after rough Quidditch practices.

"That may be, but it's something you've made well that will be used all year to help other students and staff. Do you know how many bruises I treat just in the first two weeks? We'll be out of this by Christmas. I go through two tins every time there's a Quidditch game and one a week just from scuffles students get into in the halls with each other."

Harry shrugged again, reaching up to the back of his neck. He wasn't used to being praised like this. It was good enough just to hear Snape say the balm was ‘acceptable' and that he wasn't getting detention on his first day of school in a few weeks.

After helping to put the potions and bruise balm away where they went in the Hospital Wing cupboards, Harry took the crate and satchel back to the dungeon classroom. Snape had already started new potions in the six cauldrons.

"Look into each and tell me what's in them," he said.

Harry went to the first set of three. They were bubbling away to a high flame and smelled faintly of lemon and ginger. Harry frowned. He had no idea. "I don't know sir."

"Look at the ingredients that are out on the table."

To Harry it looked like he had been making a pepperup potion, though there were no peppermint leaves, the potion wasn't red and there was the addition of lemon and ginger. All of the other ingredients for a pepperup was there though, from elderberry syrup to hyssop. "It looks like everything for pepperup."

"It is a stronger variation of pepperup potion. Pepperup potion is good for minor colds. This is used for the wizarding flu, which always sweeps through the school in December and January. It's also good for strong colds not responding to pepperup."

He slid the recipe over to Harry, asked what stage the potion was in based on what Harry was seeing in the cauldron, and when he was satisfied with the answer he let Harry take over brewing it. It was easy to brew like regular pepperup.

"What about those cauldrons?" Harry asked of the three on the next table.

"They're the same," Snape said. "Ensure that in the last stage you add enough hyssop. If you don't add enough in the last stage it will be a poor cough suppressant."

"Yes sir."

Harry finished with the Lemonup potion just before lunch time. By the time he was done filling up 34 phials of it and packaging them in two black crates to go to the Hospital Wing, it was nearly one thirty and he was starving.

"Take them to the Hospital Wing and then get lunch. You may have the rest of the day to study or waste your time. Return tomorrow before nine."

Harry gave him a nod and set off to the Hospital Wing for a second time that day.

He was glad when he got to the Great Hall at two and found it empty of staff, and sat down to enjoy a late lunch by himself.

After lunch he knew he should study, but he really wanted a few hours to himself to just relax as Snape had said, though Harry didn't consider finding a good novel at the library a waste of time.

When he found a novel (another apprentice novel, this time about a girl who was an auror apprentice keeping the secret that she was really a werewolf), he took it up to Madam Pince's desk to check out.

"Have you been told the rules?" she asked.

"Maam?"

"As a potions apprentice you have different library privileges."

"I do?"

She pointed to the paper he had always used to write down which book he was checking out and when he expected to return it. "You usually check out books here," she said. Then she pointed to a piece of parchment on the left of it. It was the parchment teachers checked books out on. "Now you check out books here."

Harry frowned down at his novel. "Even this one?" he asked.

"Anything you're checking out goes on this page now."

"But I'm not a teacher," he said. He wasn't trying to argue, and he hoped she knew he was just confused. She was strict and stern with rule breakers in her library, but he liked her like he did madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall.

"Apprentices, Head Boy and Head Girl, and staff check out books here."

Harry nodded and wrote down his name in the left column, followed by the date. In the middle column he wrote down the title of his book, and then in the far right column he wrote down the date he expected to turn it back in, which in this case was the next day. He expected to have it finished by bed. Students didn't have to turn their books in by the date they put down, but if they didn't madam Pomfrey would remind them every time she saw them in the library until they did. It was her way of ensuring the books that got checked out returned and were read by those that took them.

She looked Harry's book choice over while he wrote. "Wouldn't you rather have novels about potions apprentices?" He shrugged. "We have ten or twelve."

"Are they any good?" he asked.

"You will have to read one and tell me," she said with a pointed look.

"I might try one," he said, and took his novel and left to settle down with it in the common room.

He purposely waited until he knew dinner was finished before he went down to dinner that night to eat. As it turned out, it didn't work out in his favor this time. Umbridge was there drinking tea at Ravenclaw table and reading through a stack of paperwork. Not wanting to be rude, Harry greeted her when he came in and sat at Gryffindor, which was just the next table over. "Maam," he said.

She tilted her head and gave a falsely sweet smile that gave Harry chills. Maybe it wouldn't have if he hadn't been warned about her already, but everything from her curly brown hair to the pink frilly clothes she was wearing was giving him falsely sweet vibes.

"Having a late dinner are we?"

"Yes maam."

"I assume you have a reason for eating so late?"

"I was studying and lost track of time," he lied.

"Potions, isn't it? You are the new student potions apprentice, aren't you?"

"Yes maam."

"I heard you've already been quite busy." She took a sip of her tea, keeping her smile all the while. "Madam Pomfrey said you've already made several of the school's potions and delivered them. I never imagined you were so industrious Mr. Potter."

"I like to keep busy," he lied, tapping Gryffindor table with his wand. She let him tuck into his food for a full minute before she started questioning him again.

"It's curious, isn't it? That with your poor potions grades, you still aspire to be a potions master?"

Harry felt uneasy at her question. Uncle Vernon liked to trap him with trick questions and he always got an uneasy feeling when that was the case. He didn't think she'd push him down and punch him in the face for the wrong answer, but he couldn't shake the feeling like she would.

"I like potions," he said, trying to swallow his potatoes before he spoke so as not to be rude. "It's my favorite subject. I'm not that good at it, but I want to be better. Being a potions master sounds like a good job for after school."

"Does it? What about that excites you?"

Mind whirring to find an answer, his conversation with Madam Pomfrey and his trip to collect wolfsbane with the other potions apprentices weeks ago flashed through his mind. "I want to help people. The pepperup potion I brewed earlier today can keep students healthy all year so they can study."

"What subjects are the most important for you and your friends to study?" she asked, changing the subjects.

Defense was the answer, but he felt like he had to lie. "Potions is right now for me," Harry said. "But it's OWL's this year so I have to study hard at everything. I have all sorts of apprentice books I have to get through this year too though, because I have a test after two years to pass so I can get a second apprenticeship."

"I see."

Harry finished his meal as quickly as he could, said, "Good night," to Umbridge, and tried not to look as though he was fleeing the Great Hall.

That had gone ok, hadn't it? She was hiding something, or planning something, but the conversation hadn't been a total disaster.

* * *

The next morning Snape wasn't in his office. Harry had just found him in the upper year potions room when Snape had sent the door slamming shut with a spell and warded it against eavesdropping.

"You're a terrible liar Potter. None of the staff bought a word you told Umbridge last night."

"Sir?"

Snape narrowed his eyes at him. "You aspire to be a potions master to help people Potter?"

"I didn't say I aspired to anything," Harry said, moving to set up the cauldrons without being asked. Maybe if he was working Snape would leave him alone.

"Luckily none of the other staff members said anything while Umbridge tried to fish for answers. Did the Headmaster not warn you to be careful around her?"

"What did you want me to say sir? She said it was odd that my potions grade was so poor but that I wanted to be a potions master. I thought I did pretty good under that line of questioning. I didn't say anything that would make you or the potions community look bad."

"How about keeping your mouth shut?" Snape snapped, setting a potions book down heavily in front of Harry and then setting a list of potions down next to it.

Harry was quiet for several moments before he asked, "Is Polyjuice considered dark magic?"

"Questionable at best," Snape said, still sounding irritated.

Harry mumbled, "Then maybe you should take that and pretend to be me this year so you can give all the right answers." Unfortunately Snape heard it. Harry was glad he had while being anxious about the consequences at the same time.

The man's back stiffened as he stood up straight, and then he took a deep shuddering breath as if trying to calm himself. He turned to Harry with narrowed eyes and said, "Perhaps you'd benefit from a few hours of studying silently Potter."

That was all? Harry wondered.

"Retrieve your apprentice texts and bring them back here. You have fifteen minutes to be back."

A few hours turned out to mean all day, and after his headache came back behind his left eye before lunch, Harry was regretting his decision to open his big mouth at all. Snape kept him in the dungeon classroom to eat his lunch there, as well as his dinner. Snape brewed while Harry trudged through forty pages of his apprentice text on compositions on the 27 classes of potions, though Harry barely took any of the information in as it was boring as well as hard to concentrate with the pain behind his left eye. He was finally released an hour after dinner at six thirty.

"Bring your books back tomorrow Potter, as well as your black notebooks, a pen and your highlighters and sticky notes. You were so quiet today while reading it appears to be an effective measure in keeping you out of trouble."

Harry groaned but caught himself halfway through and tried to turn it into a fake cough. Snape only gave him a small smile, as though he'd won a private victory against him.

Harry tried to go straight to bed in his dorm that evening, but his headache kept him awake until after ten. When he woke up in the morning the headache was still there, but not as severe as it had been the day before. He knew it would only get worse again as soon as he started to study. If only he knew how to brew a headache potion, he thought. It was the first time he'd really wanted to brew a potion on his own. Polyjuice flashed through his mind, but that had been Hermione's idea, and he didn't want to think about Polyjuice after the comment about it had landed him in study detention all day the day before.

Harry had barely read a few pages after breakfast in the potions classroom before his headache came back full force. He put his hand up to his head to rub around his left eye while he read, but it didn't help much. The pain was sharp and uncomfortable.

Snape wasn't brewing today, he was doing paperwork at the front of the classroom at his own desk and ignored Harry until lunch, which he had the house elves bring to the classroom again that day.

Bending over the desk all day trying to study had also given Harry a crook in his neck and pain between his shoulders, not to mention that it was uncomfortable sitting on a hard wooden stool for that long. At least Snape had a chair to sit in. Harry didn't typically lean over his desk in classes like he had been today, but he had to in order to read while massaging his temple at the same time. The pain in his eye was now traveling all the way back over his head and down his neck. Finally around six that evening it had grown to be too much. Harry hadn't really taken in anything he'd read today either, though he had tried to take notes in an attempt to cut down on his time staring at the apprentice book pages.

Harry sighed in pain and set his book down, bringing both hands up to rub at his temples, which wasn't helping at all.

"You are supposed to be studying," Snape said after a few minutes. He was too busy with his own work to sound as though he cared much at all about Harry's brief break.

"Yes sir." Harry didn't go back to his book though. He couldn't. He needed to stop for the day... for the week even. When he got headaches like this it sometimes lasted all week if he didn't give his eyes a rest. Hermione had thought he'd been trying to skiv out on studying at first when he'd told her about his headaches in second year, but she'd taken pity on him at some point and had started reading aloud to him and Ron when Harry needed a break.

He must have gotten lost in his thoughts, because Snape was talking to him again. He must have taken too long to comply with what he'd been told to do.

"What is wrong Potter?"

"Nothing sir. I'll go back to reading."

Snape sighed as Harry picked up the book and squinted at it, looking miserable. "Why must you be so difficult Potter? You are my responsibility, that means if you are having an issue you are to tell me. You've clearly given up on reading tonight. You've been sitting there for five minutes."

Harry set the book back down and reached up to his left eye again. "It's just a headache sir. I get them sometimes."

"How often is sometimes?"

He wanted to answer him, he did, but the pain was too much at the moment and he gave up instead and put his head down on the table.

"It is that bad?" Snape asked, sounding skeptical as he stood up and came over to the student table Harry was using.

"I had a headache all day yesterday. It got a little better after I slept but it came right back full force as soon as I started reading this morning," Harry said, not lifting his head up. He was hoping the cool surface of the wood table would calm the sharp pain a little, but all it did was hurt his neck more. "It happens when I read too much."

Snape scoffed but didn't say anything else for a few moments. "When was the last time you had your glasses prescription changed?" he finally asked. Harry was only glad he wasn't criticizing him.

"I don't know," Harry said. He'd never been to see an eye doctor. His aunt had brought his glasses home for him one day when he was nine. Just before eleven she'd taken him to the pharmacy to pick out another pair that he could see through better, but not since then.

"A year?" Snape asked.

"Before Hogwarts," Harry said.

"You've been unable to see properly since you started Hogwarts? Why did you not tell your relatives or speak to Madam Pomfrey? She can change your prescription in moments with a combination of potions and charms."

Harry shrugged and regretted the movement as soon as he did so.

"Up. Get up and go to the Hospital Wing."

"I just need to sleep," Harry half pleaded.

"You can go straight to bed after the Hospital Wing."

Harry dreaded climbing the stairs up through the castle to get to the Hospital Wing or to Gryffindor tower. If he had to make his way up through the castle at all, he supposed it would be better to go to the Hospital Wing first. Madam Pomfrey might have a headache potion for him if he did go so he could fall asleep faster tonight.

He was surprised when Snape followed him out of the room and up through the castle. He probably just wanted to ensure that Harry was doing as he had been told and not going straight to Gryffindor tower.

When they entered the Hospital Wing a few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and said, "Hello Harry, Severus. Have you brought me more potions?"

"A patient," Severus said, sounding irritated.

"Oh my, what's happened? Not a potions accident this early into his training I hope?" She had Harry sit on the bed nearest the door, and he promptly let himself fall sideways on it.

"Not an accident. He spent the last two days studying. Apparently he had a headache all day yesterday and neglected to tell anyone. It came back again today. When I asked he said his glasses prescription has been the same since before he came for his first year at Hogwarts."

"Oooh," she hummed in sympathy for Harry. She did a diagnostic spell, asked Harry to open his eyes so she could scan them, scanned his glasses, scanned his left eye again, and then the rest of his body.

"His left eye is severely strained. It's no wonder he has a headache behind it. His right eye looks as though it's just beginning to get strained. I can see the cause. These glasses don't match his prescription at all. The right lens isn't too far off, but the left lens is far weaker than he needs. You've really been unable to see well all this time?" she asked Harry, who was still laying on the bed in pain.

"It's not so bad," he insisted.

She gave him a pain potion followed by an anti-inflammatory potion, and then a nasty tasting muscle relaxant.

"Wait, I can't see out of that eye at all now!" Harry said, panicked.

"I gave you a relaxant that targets your left eye. That eye needs to completely relax and be rested for at least two days or the headache will come right back. I gave you something for the strained muscles in your neck and back as well. It's not healthy to sit hunched over books studying for too long. If you're going to spend long hours studying you should do it from a more comfortable position... on a couch, or in a comfortable chair where you can sit back."

"Hm," Harry agreed, though he didn't say anything about being made to study on a hard uncomfortable stool for two days. If he did Snape would be mad at him for making him look bad.

Harry wanted to watch what she was doing with his glasses, but it was all a blur to him now so she described it for him instead.

"I have a potion that changes the thickness of glass," she said. "I can tell with the spell I used exactly how thick each lens in your glasses needs to be to work well for you. By charming this potion and then dipping your left lens into it for ten seconds, the glass will change and become the right prescription." She counted to ten and then said, "There now. I'll just do the charm again for the right side and," she counted to ten and presumably pulled his glasses free of the potion. She dried them off, cleaned the lenses with a spell, and handed them to Harry to put on. His left eye was completely blurry from the potion she'd given to relax it, but for the first time in his remembrance he could see with crystal clear vision out of his right eye.

"Wow!" Harry said. "It's all so clear!"

"It will be in your other eye as well after the potion wears off in two days."

"Two days?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid so. At least you'll be able to see with your right eye to navigate, use the restroom, and eat your meals. No reading for the next two days I'm afraid however. That means no studying, and I would think no potion brewing as your sense of depth will be off. It would be dangerous to chop potions ingredients like that."

Snape gave a nod of agreement, though he didn't say anything about it.

"Just relax for a few days," she told him. "From the sounds of it you've done enough studying to tide you over anyhow."

She released him a few minutes later, and Snape didn't mention him needing to stay or go back to the dungeons, so Harry left on his own and went back to Gryffindor. He took a few moments when he came into the empty common room to appreciate just how much detail everything had. He'd seen it all before, but not like he was seeing it now.

He wanted to ignore madam Pomfrey's orders and read a novel, but remembered his desire to go to bed and decided that was the better option.

When he didn't hear from Snape the next morning, Harry opted to stay in the common room all day, skipping breakfast and lunch so he could avoid Umbridge and Snape both. At dinner, a meal appeared on the desk in his dorm room, and Harry was satisfied to have gotten a full day to himself where nothing was expected of him but to rest and heal.

His second day off passed much in the same way, and by the third day, the vision in his left eye had returned to normal... better than normal. He wished he could just spend the next two weeks of summer by himself, but knew if he didn't go to the Dungeons Snape would seek him out and accuse him of wasting time. At least if he was set to long hours of studying now he had a chance to do it without a headache. Maybe he could convince Snape to let him sit in a wooden chair as well instead of on a stool.

Even Minerva had looked after him when he'd come to Hogwarts to teach at Albus' insistence. He'd had to do a one year teaching apprenticeship and had been assigned to Minerva. Granted, teaching apprenticeships were different than Potions apprenticeships, especially if done at Hogwarts. He was teaching his own classes that first year, making his own lesson plans, grading the papers of his students, but Minerva had checked in with him daily at breakfast and then again at dinner, and had had meetings with him once a week on Fridays to ensure things were going well, to give him pointers on how to handle difficult students, and to make sure he was following all the rules. Minerva had told him frequently that year to relax... to make sure he made time to take care of himself and do things he enjoyed. "No teaching on Sunday's, that's my rule. That's my day for myself. I'm a head of house and the deputy headmistress, so I don't get to take the day off if there's an emergency, but I make sure I don't schedule detentions or tutoring on Sunday and I try to get all my grading done by Friday evening so I can have Saturday off as well. Be sure to do that Severus. You need to make time for yourself or you'll burn out."

Severus knew Potter needed time to himself and with his family, and had made it a point not to monopolize the child's entire summer. What he'd failed to do was realize the boy was hurt on multiple occasions or had been overworked to the point he'd needed two days of mandatory rest. He shook his head. It was against everything that being an apprentice master stood for, especially with an apprentice under the age of majority. He'd been 17 the first year he became an apprentice and his apprentice masters had all looked after him. Potter was only 15 and Severus felt like he was doing a poor job of being his master. That would have to change. Potter had done all the work he'd been asked to do and hadn't complained once, even when in discomfort or pain. He'd done the same with a broken arm earlier in the summer.

Severus still didn't know why the Gryffindor was like that. He wasn't sure if he was trying to project the image of a stoic hero who never flinched, or if he just wasn't good at taking care of himself. He was probably used to his aunt and uncle seeing to his every scrape and bruise. Severus shuddered to think about having to cater to the child for such small injuries, but then reminded himself that he'd taken on this responsibility in taking Harry as an apprentice.

He would definitely have to keep a closer eye on the boy if he wasn't going to take care of himself or speak up when he was hurt. He appreciated for the first time perhaps what it must have been like for Minerva and master Gerrin, having to tell him to eat, sleep, and take a break because he'd worked himself too hard. He didn't think Potter was the type to overwork himself... no, the boy's past work showed that he was prone to doing the bare minimum required of him. The only problem was that since Severus had taken him as an apprentice earlier that summer that that view of the boy had been dashed. He was a hard worker. He worked efficiently and without complaint. It was a mystery Severus didn't want to spend the mental energy on unraveling, at least not now when he only had a couple of weeks left until the start of the school year and he had mountains of paperwork to do and an apprentice to keep both eyes on. Or maybe never. He only needed to get the boy through his apprenticeship books and ensure he kept himself out of trouble this year.

* * *

Madam Pomfrey must have gotten after Snape to ease up on him. Harry had been surprised when he returned to the Dungeons the day after the sight came back into focus in his left eye when the Slytherin head of house told him they'd be making potions in the mornings Monday-Friday for the next two weeks, and that Harry should spend his afternoons in his common room studying there. "Do not study after dinner for the next two weeks."

"Am I supposed to return to the dungeons for more brewing after dinners?" Harry asked.

"That time is yours to do with as you will."

Harry mulled over the new schedule in his head. Brewing until eleven didn't sound so bad, and getting to go back to his dorms or common room after lunch to relax on a couch or in a comfortable chair or on his bed to study by himself sounded even better.

Snape didn't say anything else about the new schedule or his stay in the Hospital Wing, so Harry figured the issue was settled, and was grateful he wasn't spending the next two weeks on an uncomfortable wooden stool studying in the dungeons.

That morning, and for the next few mornings, Severus had Harry brewing a number of easy potions that the Hospital Wing needed. Harry brewed a base for an antifungal potion that they then split into three cauldrons and used as the base for a variety of other antifungal potions. Madam Pomfrey told Harry later that the magical world was full of all sorts of funguses that liked to attach themselves to witches and wizards. He also brewed cases of calming potions, a potion for the sniffles, a single phial of an anti-hiccup potion that Madam Pomfrey said was to cure hiccups caused by a curse that some unlucky student was always hit with once a year, and several other potions Harry hadn't realized students might need in the year.

One morning he brewed a fast potion that only took twenty minutes, and Snape told him to spend the rest of the morning in the Hospital Wing learning the name and use of every potion in Madam Pomfrey's cabinets. Harry wondered if the medi-witch would give him a hard time about it, but it seemed Snape had already set this up with her ahead of time, and Harry spent the morning learning about other potions he hadn't brewed, but might need to in the future if she ran out of them. There was dreamless sleep, which he'd had, potions to treat Dragon Pox, headache potions, stomach ache draughts, heartburn potions, Skele-grow and dozens more. Harry wrote down each potion and its use in one of his black potions journals and hoped Snape wasn't going to quiz him on the information later.

While Harry would have preferred to have all day every day to himself since it was summer, he was glad that he was so busy five days a week that he had no time to stop and talk to Professor Umbridge. He ran into her frequently and she always wanted to stop and talk to him. Having his arms full with a heavy crate full of glass potions phials or ‘rushing' back to the dungeons to take care of a ‘potion in a critical stage' were great excuses to give her though. Snape was giving him Saturday and Sunday off each week until the school year started, but Harry stayed in Gryffindor tower those days unless he had to venture out to the library to get a new novel to read. Once his friends were back in a few days and school started again, he would have even more excuses to use not to talk to her as he'd have classes to go to and to study for.

Friday, two days before the rest of the students were to return, Snape wrote down the name of a book and sent Harry off to the library with the note. "I need this to brew a potion. You may not be able to find it right away. It will be in the potions section, but that section is large and may take you some time to look through."

Harry had never been in the potions section of the library before. Hermione had, but Harry and Ron had spent their time browsing through books in the Quidditch and Defense sections, and every once in a while in the Charms section to finish essays for class.

Madam Pomfrey directed Harry to the back left corner of the library after verifying that the book Harry wanted was checked in. Harry passed rows and rows of books on Transfiguration, Arithmancy, History and other subjects. Finally he came to the start of the Potions section and looked at the name of the book again. It looked like it had to do with the fifth class of potions. The Hogwarts library wasn't organized like Muggle libraries. He had to find the section with books on the fifth class of potions first, then he had to narrow down any subsections within that section before he could start looking in alphabetical order by name of the book, not by author.

It was twenty minutes before Harry determined that the book he wanted wasn't in that first potions section he'd come to. He went down a long row of potions books, then came back up another aisle with shelves towering on either side. After several more rows Harry came to a funny little nook in the corner of the library. The walls jutted out creating a little square room with a booth on three sides and a table in the middle. There were tall windows in three of the walls, and these were surrounded by bookshelves. It was tucked away in a section he wagered students rarely ventured to, and Harry thought it would be the perfect spot to sit and study without Umbridge being able to find him as there was no direct line of sight to the library entrance and it was tucked away. Hermione would love it, and he hoped Ron wouldn't grouch too much about having to sit with them surrounded by Potions books.

Harry entered the nook and quickly browsed the shelves inside before determining the book he needed wasn't there either. He went on his way, but not before turning back to give the cozy nook one last look of appreciation and deciding that he'd come back here for the next two days to study on his free time instead of hiding in the common room. A change of scenery would be nice.

* * *

Harry had really been hoping he'd be allowed to take the train to school, but Snape had shot that idea down rather quickly.

"I have staff meetings all day Sunday. I do not have time to apparate you to London," Snape informed him Saturday afternoon.

Harry bit his lip, wanting to say that he'd never not ridden the train to school with his friends, and that he hadn't really gotten a summer holiday this time around, but knew it wouldn't make a difference to the stern potions master. He didn't care about Harry's personal life at all or what he wanted. He only cared that Harry did as he was told and continued studying for the apprentice exams.

They didn't have any brewing to do that morning or on Sunday, so Harry retreated to the corner nook in the potions section of the library. He had decided to give himself that day and the next off of studying altogether, so instead he went and found a novel about an auror on the hunt for a murderous banshee. He'd already been through three novels about apprentices since he'd gotten back to Hogwarts and wanted a change of pace. Madam Pomfrey had been right, there were half a dozen novels about potions apprentices, but Harry had decided not to read them for now. He had to live the life of a potions apprentice every day and didn't need to read about others suffering in the same way.

The cream colored cushions on the benches in the library nook were soft and comfortable so Harry settled himself in between two bookshelves on one of the benches in the window well and alternated between reading and staring out the window which looked out over the West Wood. This forest was smaller than the Forbidden Forest and much less wild, but still nice to gaze out at when he grew tired of reading.

Harry didn't bother checking the novel out, and instead left it in the nook so he could come back and read it Sunday.

He rose early Sunday and got breakfast in the Great Hall, sure Umbridge wouldn't have time to pester him if there were staff meetings all day, and then retreated to the potions nook in the library again to finish his novel, which he did by lunch. After another quick meal, Harry returned again and let his eyes wander around the books in the nook. The potions books here didn't seem to be organized by any specific topic like they were in the rest of the library. There was a book on apprenticeship next to one on ingredients that could be gathered from animal waste, and next to that a book of common household potions. Curious, Harry pulled the book on animal waste down and flipped through it for a few minutes before putting it back and pulling another book off the shelf. He didn't enjoy reading factual books like Hermione did, but found that he didn't seem to mind whiling away the last few hours of his summer holiday there in the sunny nook looking through potions books that seemed to be based around interesting facts more than a dire need for knowledge. After all, who would need to know that elephant dung contained nutrients required in 17 base potions, or that you could substitute fly saliva into any potion that needed to be made sticky?

Ignoring the advice he'd been given not to ask the house elves in the kitchens for snacks, Harry went down the Hufflepuff corridor at five and knocked on the portrait of the prickly pear. The feast started at seven and Harry was hoping to find Dobby and convince him to give him an apple to tide him over. Instead of Dobby or one of the other house elves opening the portrait door however, Harry found himself face to face with Professor McGonagall.

"Oh Harry," she said, surprised. "I thought perhaps it was Hagrid knocking. The password was just changed and I thought he may have forgotten."

"Sorry," Harry said, but she waved him inside anyway. "I was going to ask for an apple. I had an early lunch." The kitchen was a flurry of movement and noise as over two dozen house elves prepared food for the feast.

"I will be putting you to works for that apple," said an aging house elf from his stool at a counter as he directed other house elves where to go and what to do. "We is busy and cannot be giving snacks to just any student who comes by."

"I'm sorry," Harry said again.

The elf pointed to a sink full of potatoes and said, "Wash those, then you can have your apple. Be quick about it! The feasts is starting in two hours!"

Harry looked to Professor McGonagall helplessly but she only winked at him so Harry went to the sink and began washing potatoes. He made a quick job of it, and after another house elf overlooked his work to be sure he'd done a good job, he was handed an apple and told that if he came back asking for snacks again he'd be doing more work for them.

Harry took a bite of his apple and listened for a few moments as his Head of House conversed with a tiny house elf with a squeaky voice about deserts and the chickens Hagrid was supposed to be delivering any time now. Deciding he didn't want to be yelled at for hanging around the kitchens longer than he had to, Harry made for the door, but Professor McGonagall called out to him.

"Harry."

He turned and paused, apple in hand. "Maam?"

She came over to him and gave him a small smile, but then her face grew serious. "I know the Headmaster and Professor Snape have both spoken to you about Professor Umbridge. I want to caution you again however. I know you've been doing your best to avoid her, but starting tomorrow that won't be entirely possible as you'll have classes with her three days a week. She's already informed Albus that she won't be having students use the regular textbooks this year. Instead she'll be handing out ‘Ministry approved' books. If you give her any reason at all to punish you or malign your character, she will."

"What does that mean... books approved by the Ministry?"

She sighed and looked displeased. "The Headmaster, Professor Snape and I looked through them Friday evening. They teach the ‘theory' of defense, but nothing practical. You won't be learning practical defense at all this year. There is value in what the books are teaching, but not the same sort of value that students are used to in Defense. They take a very passive stance on the subject and won't teach you any sort of spells."

"And you want me to not push her on it," Harry said seriously.

"That is the idea, yes Mr. Potter," she said. "I can't imagine Severus will be happy if you've been assigned detention on your first day back to classes, and neither will I for that matter since you've been warned beforehand about this. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you'd warn your classmates as well. I'm certain she'll target you directly, but that doesn't mean your classmates will be out of the line of fire if they object too much at the change in teaching materials or agenda."

Harry sighed quietly. "I'll tell them. Wish I could have ridden the train to school with them."

"Yes, well, perhaps after Christmas you can ride it back to the castle with them."

"I never go home for Christmas," Harry reminded her.

"I'm aware. I assumed you would be going home with Severus this year." Harry gave her a horrified look and she frowned for a moment and then laughed. "If he brings it up, I'll see what I can do to keep you here for the holidays. I'm sure I could use your help brewing some potions that could help my advanced 7th year students attempt their animagus forms."

Harry gave her a thankful look and finally smiled. "I missed summer holiday. I'll be grateful if you can convince him to let me have Christmas."

She told Harry to stay out of the way until six forty five and then to come to the Great Hall to greet his friends, so Harry went up to his dorm for the next hour.

There were some teachers in the Great Hall when he went back down at six forty, but luckily Umbridge wasn't around, so he took a seat at Gryffindor table and waited for the throng of students to come in. A few minutes later he heard the Great Oak front doors open in the Entrance Hall and a wave of voices and laughter as students came in. Ron and Hermione were among the first students to come into the Great Hall, and they looked relieved to find Harry already there.

"Harry!" Hermione said, throwing her arms around him as she sat down on his right. Ron sat on his other side. "We were so worried about you when you didn't show up on the train!"

"What happened? Mum and Dad said you probably wouldn't be there and that we'd see you at school, but didn't say why."

"It's a long story," Harry said. "I've been here for a few weeks already. I didn't really get a summer break."

"You didn't?" Hermione asked.

He shook his head. "I can't talk about it here. I'll tell you when we get into the common room."

Half of the Gryffindors had come in and taken a seat now and the noise was at a comfortable enough level that Harry didn't fear being overheard by Umbridge who had just gone up to the Head table to take her seat.

"Why not?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded his head sideways towards the Head table without looking and said quietly, "Don't look up there. There's a new teacher. The Ministry put her here to try to get me and Dumbledore in trouble. I've been warned three times since I got here to stay out of her way and not do anything that could make her give me detention."

"That squat woman in pink?" Ron asked with a frown.

"Umbridge," Harry said. "She's teaching Defense this year and isn't going to teach us anything practical. She's going to make us use books she brought with her. Professor McGonagall wanted me to tell you and the rest of our classmates not to put up a fuss about it because she'll throw anyone who does into detention." He paused, making sure to look around him just in case someone was listening, and then said, "There's something else." Ron and Hermione leaned in and Harry said, "Dumbledore said she was almost thrown out of school for using dark magic when she was a student. He didn't say it outright, but he implied she was dangerous."

"Why is it always the Defense teacher?" Ron asked, looking wary despite it being their first evening back at school.

"And the potions professor," Harry grumped. "Master Snape's been after me all summer."

"Master?" Ron asked loudly.

"Nevermind," Harry said. "I can't talk about it here." He tried to ignore the surprised look Hermione had and the frown Ron was wearing as the rest of the students finally came in and settled down as they waited for the sorting to begin.

The sorting started a few minutes later and went by quickly with Gryffindor gaining ten new members who all sat nervously down at the far end of the table nearest the head table. As they tucked into the feast that had been prepared for them, Ron did his best not to push Harry to answer more questions, and Hermione sat quietly in thought, ignoring Lavender Brown, who kept trying to pull her into a conversation about summer romances. After seven or eight minutes Hermione said quietly, "You can't tell anyone else about Defense."

"What?" Harry asked.

"If she's here to get you in trouble, you can't be the one to tell others. It'll have to be me and Ron."

"McGonagall said you'd be in the line of fire too. If she's after me she'll be after my friends."

"Yes, but Professor McGonagall told you specifically to warn others, didn't she?"

"Yeah..."

Hermione gave him a serious look. "Then that's what I'll be doing for the rest of the evening. I'm a Prefect so I have cause to go talk to other Prefects. Ron too."

"That's going to go over well," Ron said. "Hey, by the way, don't cause any trouble tomorrow in Defense or else."

"You could talk to them with a modicum of decorum Ronald," Hermione said seriously.

"What's going on?" Neville asked from across the table. He'd been talking to Ginny and Dean, but now all three of them stopped to listen in.

Ron, Hermione and Harry exchanged nervous glances.

"I was asked to tell you all something," Harry said. "Tomorrow in Defense, things will be different. They're not going to teach us practical Defense this year. Professor McGonagall said not to cause trouble or argue with the new teacher about it because she'll put you in detention right away."

"And she's a crazy nutter," Ron finished.

"Ronald," Hermione scolded him.

"Fine," Ron said with a sigh. "She's been known to use dark magic. Harry was warned specifically not to piss her off, and then told to tell us the same. Now you know."

"Sorry, but who told you this?" Dean asked.

"Professor McGonagall, earlier today," Harry said.

"Earlier? When?" Neville asked.

"Harry was here before us," Hermione filled in, still not knowing the details herself. "He didn't ride the train to school."

All of the kids in their vicinity at Gryffindor were giving Harry curious looks now, but he looked down at his food instead.

"I'll pass it along," Neville said quietly, and rose to go sit further down the table. At first it looked like he was there to strike up a friendly conversation with Collin Creevy and the third year boy he was sitting with, but as Harry and his friends watched, they could tell when the conversation turned serious by the look on Collin's face.

Ten minutes later Hermione rose to visit two of the Prefects at Ravenclaw table, and just before the end of the feast Ron went over to Hufflepuff to talk to Ernie McMillan. None of them went to Slytherin table, but Hermione told Harry as they exited the Great Hall that one of the Ravenclaws was going to pass the message along.

"Well this has been an odd night," Ron said after they made it into Gryffindor tower twenty minutes later and headed for the stairs to the boy's dorms. "Never had to pass a message on from a Professor like that to other houses before. You sure you're not putting us on Harry?"

"Her exact words to me were, ‘I'd appreciate it if you'd warn your classmates as well.'"

"Well, we're warned," Seamus snapped as he passed them hurriedly on the stairs and went into the dorm.

"That was weird," Harry said quietly in the dimly lit spiraling stairwell.

"He was in a mood on the train when I stopped in to see him and Dean to ask if they'd seen you."

"Is he not feeling well or something?" Harry asked, but Ron only shrugged.

When they got into the dorms a moment later, Seamus looked angry as he changed out of his robes and into his pajamas.

"You ok?" Ron asked. "Dinner hit you funny or something?"

"Fine," Seamus grouched, back to them. He didn't seem to have anything else to say about it though, and Dean gave Ron a warning look not to push, so he turned back to Harry before moving for his own trunk to start putting his clothes away in their shared wardrobe and to change into pajamas.

Twenty minutes later they went back to the common room to meet with Hermione. Hermione was already down there and it seemed she had been for ten minutes, ushering students under fourth year off to bed and answering questions from first years. As a result the common room was mostly empty aside from a small group of seventh years sitting by the fire and chatting about their summer holiday, and two sixth years holding hands by the entrance, looking as though they had catching up to do as well.

"Well?" Ron asked, sitting at a little study table in the corner nearest the stairs to the boy's dorms. "What happened? Why weren't you on the train?"

"You're not going to like it," Harry said, flopping down into a seat. Ron and Hermione looked ready to hear whatever he had to say though.

"I got apprenticed to Voldemort over the summer. I'm going to be spending the next two years learning the Dark Arts."

Harry tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn't, and at the moment he broke out laughing so did Ron and Hermione.

"Come on Harry!" Ron said. "I thought this was going to be something serious!"

"It is actually," Harry said, trying to continue smiling even as he grew nervous and rubbed the back of his neck. "I did actually get apprenticed, just not to Voldemort. Maybe that would have been better," he said quietly.

"Harry." Hermione put her hand across the table and on top of his wrist. "You're a potions apprentice now aren't you?"

"What?" Ron asked, shocked and angry, though Harry was glad he'd asked in a heated whisper and not a shout.

"He called the Professor ‘Master Snape' earlier. I'd wondered then. That's what apprentices call the person they've been apprenticed to, isn't it?"

Harry nodded. He could always count on Hermione to figure things out and stay calm, so he didn't look at her at all. It was Ron who he locked eyes with.

"Snape?" Ron asked. "How?"

"He and my uncle set it up. I didn't get a choice."

"Yeah but- you're not even 17 yet!"

Harry sighed. "That's what makes it worse. To be an apprentice under the age of 17 the master has to basically take custody of the apprentice. Snape has say over my entire life now. He makes medical decisions, education decisions... technically he could make me leave Hogwarts if he wanted."

"And your uncle just agreed to this?" Hermione asked quietly.

Ron snorted. "Of course he did. Dirty muggles." He realized what he'd said and looked at Hermione apologetically. "It's nothing against muggles," he said, "just those ones. They're the worst."

"I know that," Hermione said. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't spit out muggle like a dirty word though."

"I'm sorry," he apologized again. His sincere tone seemed to appease her, at least for the moment, and they both looked to Harry to continue.

Harry told them about the deal his uncle had made, about spending a few days at a time off and on with Snape in London and trekking cross country to collect ingredients, about meeting a few other people in the potions community, and finally about coming to Hogwarts early and brewing the easier potions for the Hospital Wing.

"I have a separate trunk full of potions supplies now. There's a bunch of books I have to memorize to pass a big test the summer between sixth and seventh year."

"I wouldn't study at all if I'd been sold into slavery."

"It's not slavery," Hermione said, though Harry seemed to agree that it was. "What did the Headmaster have to say about it?"

"That he didn't want me to be an apprentice but that it was a good thing for now because if I get in trouble all my punishments are to be handled by master Snape."

"Stop calling him that," Ron said.

Harry played with his hands on top of the table. "I can't. Or at least... I'm supposed to call him that. I'll make him look bad if I don't, and then I'll be the one in trouble. I'm supposed to call him and any other potions masters ‘master' until I'm out of the apprenticeship or have a potions mastery of my own."

"The others are gonna ask if you're calling him that."

"I didn't figure I'd have a chance to hide it from anyone," Harry said. "Everyone will find out because I have different rules to follow."

Hermione made him explain what the Headmaster had told him, including about Snape getting to choose if he lived in Gryffindor tower or not.

"Definitely don't piss him off then," Ron said. "This really sucks. I can't believe the Ministry lets this sort of thing happen."

"It was more common a long time ago," Hermione said. "I read about it. Sometimes kids skipped Hogwarts altogether and just went into an apprenticeship. Some kids were apprentices as young as seven years old. It was a good way for orphans or poor kids to have their needs met while learning a skill that could earn them money. I just didn't realize that the Ministry never changed those laws. I thought you had to be 17 to take an apprenticeship or out of Hogwarts at least."

They sat in silence for a minute, and Harry expected them to ask more questions, but instead was surprised when Hermione leaned over and pulled him into a hug. Ron was too manly to hug him, but he did it anyway, coming over to wrap Harry and Hermione both in a tight squeeze. Harry was stunned and bit his lip to keep himself from tearing up. He'd missed them, and hadn't realized just how much he'd needed them that summer until this moment... how much he'd needed friends to just agree with him that this whole situation sucked and to let him know he wasn't alone.

"C'mon," Ron said. "It's getting late. If Defense or Potions is first thing in the morning and you're late, you'll be in big trouble."

Harry laughed. "I'm always in big trouble."

"Maybe this is the year that'll end," Hermione said hopefully, standing too.

"Yeah," Ron said, not sounding as though he was hopeful at all. "At least you have school supplies and clothes this year."

They parted ways for the night and when he and Ron got back up to their dorm the other boys were already asleep.

Harry lay in bed for almost an hour trying to fall asleep himself, but his thoughts kept swirling around his uncle shipping him off to work for Snape, his friends hugging him, and what he was going to say in the morning if Umbridge confronted him in class. Nothing, he told himself, I'll say nothing at all.

"What's this about the new Defense professor Potter?" a seventh year Prefect named Dillon asked. All eyes were on Harry, and he paused in the stairwell, causing Seamus to grouch behind him about him blocking the rest of them from getting out. Harry moved aside and Seamus brushed past him and into the crowd.

"What were you told?" Harry asked.

Dillon crossed his arms and said, "Neville said you were told by McGonagall not to cause any trouble in Defense. What's that got to do with the rest of us?"

"Professor McGonagall told me to pass the info along to everyone. We're not being taught practical defense this year and she doesn't want us to make a stink about it to the new Defense Professor."

"Why aren't we being taught practical defense?" a sixth year girl Harry couldn't remember the name of asked.

"I don't know," Harry lied. "We're getting a new Defense book that teaches the theory of defense." There were murmurs around the room about You-Know-Who, ‘the tournament' and Cedric, but no one said anything directly to Harry about it.

"Why'd she tell you?" Dean asked from beside him.

"I didn't get to take the train to school. I was here before the rest of you. She said we'd get detention if we caused any issues with the new Professor and told me to tell you so we could stay out of trouble."

"Or so you could stay out of trouble more like," Seamus said from somewhere, though Harry had lost sight of him now. There were a few murmurs of agreement though.

"Yeah, I'd prefer not to spend the week in detention," Harry said. "Look," he could feel that Ron was tense beside him and knew Hermione would be too even though he couldn't see her at the moment. "We can learn something from the books we're given. Just study and don't fight the new teacher on it and it'll be fine."

Dillon broke up the impromptu house meeting and told the younger kids to get to class. Hermione made her way over to he and Ron and Neville so they could walk down to breakfast together.

"You don't mean what you said," Ron said, looking as grouchy as Seamus had been acting since the day before. Harry hoped the whole day wouldn't be like this and wished McGonagall hadn't asked him to spread the word. He could tell some students didn't believe him or were skeptical that McGonagall had said anything to him at all about it since he wasn't a Prefect. "We can't be expected to learn to defend ourselves against You-Know-Who if we're not being taught any spells this year."

Neville nodded in agreement. "Learning some new shields would be nice."

"That's what's in the defense books we were supposed to use," Hermione said. "We can still learn what we need to in our free time."

"Just- keep your head down," Harry grumbled as they left the tower and went out into the corridor. He had enough to deal with already between Snape and Umbridge and didn't want his friends to get in trouble. If they did he'd have to stick up for them, because they always did that for him. Then he'd dig himself a deep hole he'd never get out of, because that was how things usually went for him.

McGonagall came down the table midway through breakfast handing out schedules, and she stopped several times before she got to Harry to answer questions students had. When she finally came to him she gave him an appreciative look and said, "Well Mr. Potter, I see you did as I asked."

"Everyone knows," Hermione said without looking up as she took a sip of her orange juice, "even Slytherin."

"Not sure anybody believed us though," Ron said.

"Judging by how many people asked me and the other heads of house about it this morning and last night after the feast, I would say you were believed. I didn't expect you to pass it around to the entire school."

Harry looked up at her and gave her a sorry look but she only smiled. "Carry on," she said, leaving them with their schedules and moving further down the table.

"Damn," Ron said, bringing Harry's attention back to him. He was looking down at his schedule. "Why does the first day have to be the worst?"

Harry looked down at his own schedule and sighed. Defense, followed by double Potions. At least they had Care of Magical Creatures after that, where Harry knew he wouldn't be yelled at and put down or be in fear of getting detention.

"Care of Magical Creatures will be nice to end the day with," Harry commented, and didn't say anything else, aware that other students were listening to their conversation. Snape would be pissed if he found out Harry was complaining about potions, and he was still too wary of Umbridge to say anything in public about Defense aside from what he'd had to say about it that morning.

Harry and his friends dragged their feet after breakfast getting up to Defense Against The Dark Arts that morning to the point where Hermione began rushing them because they were running late. As a result of being so slow there was only one table left for them right next to the table Draco was sharing with Goyle. Hermione had to sit next to Neville up in the front of class as that was the only other open seat.

Harry wasn't really sure what to expect of that first Defense class with Professor Umbridge. The previous year the fake Moody had yelled at them, thrown chalk at them, and done a decent (if not deceptive) job of preparing them for any future battles they might find themselves in. Harry found it odd that a man so intent on kidnapping him and delivering him to Voldemort had been so helpful, but didn't have time to dwell on it now as Umbridge, dressed all in pink with a gray cat brooch stood at the front of the room and gave them all a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Welcome to Defense Against The Dark Arts, I'm so happy you were all on time today and look so eager to learn. My name is Delores Umbridge and I'm so excited to teach you all." She gave a little girlish laugh at the end that made Ron gag quietly beside Harry as he slouched down in his seat.

"Will everyone please take out their defense books and pass them forward? This year the Ministry of Magic has decided to donate brand new books to every Defense student to ensure only the highest quality of learning."

Many eyes in the classroom flickered to Harry, including from the Slytherin side of the room, but he ignored them and pulled out his defense book before passing it forward to Lavender Brown who was at the table in front of him. When the books had made their way up to the front of the room, Umbridge levitated stacks of the new ‘Ministry' defense books to the tables at the front and instructed students to pass them back one at a time until everyone had one.

The new book was plain gray, called ‘The Absolute Theory Of Defense', and had no author listed, only that it had been issued by the Ministry Of Magic.

"The theory of Defense is so important," she said, "wouldn't you agree?" She was looking at Harry when she asked the question, but he only held her gaze, trying to keep his face impassive, and didn't respond.

"Maam?" Teddy Knott asked from the other side of the room. His hand was raised, and she turned to him, a smile still on her face.

"Yes? What is your name dear?"

"Theodore Knott."

"Yes Mr. Knott?"

"Will we be getting our other Defense texts back at the end of the year?"

"Whyever would you need them?" she asked with a little giggle. It seemed like a harmless question, but Harry's muscles were tight like he was ready to go into battle. Shut up, just shut up, he pleaded silently to himself, hoping Teddy wouldn't start something. He didn't care about the Slytherin boy at all, but several of the Slytherins were still shooting him glances as if they expected him to say something to her.

"It's just, my parents paid for it," he said. "I thought the Ministry would like these back at the end of the year for next year's class, and my parents will ask where my other book is when I go home without it."

"I'm afraid all of these will be getting returned to fund your new books," she said. "You may keep your theory book and take that home with you. I shall write you a note home if you're dreadfully worried about it." She gave him another little smile and turned towards Harry again.

"Is there anything else?" she asked the class. Stop looking at me, Harry pleaded silently again to the class. It was like they were egging him on to say anything at all and she was ready for it. "Did you have something you wanted to say about it?" she asked Seamus instead. For the first time in several minutes Harry became aware that Seamus looked irritated and angry again. He must not have slept to be grouching at everyone as he had been, and he hoped he just kept his mouth closed and didn't end up in detention.

"Harry has something to say about it, isn't that right Harry?"

Harry's face paled. Seamus hadn't even turned back to look at him when he'd said it. What was he playing at?

"What were you saying in the common room this morning?" Seamus said, still not turning back to look at him.

Umbridge looked delighted and turned to Harry again. Harry squirmed and sat up in his seat. He could feel the tenseness radiating off of Ron next to him. It was like Ron's muscles had strained so much he'd moved beyond shaking and had frozen completely, locked in place.

"Yes?" Umbridge asked.

Calm, calm, don't be stupid. Harry looked down at his desk, going back to old habits as years spent living under the iron rule of his uncle had taught him to do. It was best not to look adults in the eye when they were angry. Umbridge wasn't angry, or at least if she was he couldn't tell with the smile she wore. Delighted certainly, expectant even, but he couldn't tell beyond that. "We have a lot of things we can learn from this book," he said quietly. Snape's words from a few weeks ago had come back to him in that moment, that it would be best if he kept his mouth shut around her. He couldn't though when he'd been put on the spot like this.

"Yes," Umbridge said, "we certainly do. Could you tell me please Mr. Potter, what brought about this conversation in the common room this morning?"

Harry didn't look up from his desk. "I heard we might be getting new books. Some people asked about it this morning, and I told them we could learn from these books."

"That's not what you said," Seamus said from up front, finally turning to look at Harry. He looked angry. "You said not to fight her."

"That is what he said," Hermione said from the front of the room. Harry could tell she was fuming. "He said we could learn from the books we're being given and not to fuss about it."

"There will be no arguing in my classroom," Umbridge said in a singsong voice to Hermione and Seamus. When she was sure they would be quiet she turned back to Harry. "Why would anyone fight me Mr. Potter?"

He was looking up at her now, mouth dry, completely at a loss for what to say. Ron nudged him under the table with his foot and Harry's mind whirred into motion again. He looked back down at the table. "I just wanted them to be respectful to you." It wasn't a lie exactly, but it wasn't the truth either. "We've had a bad run of Defense teachers in the past. Everyone was wary about getting another new one. When I saw they were upset, I didn't want them to give you a hard time this morning."

Ron was holding his breath beside him, and when no one said anything, Harry looked up. Umbridge looked, shocked, and then her face morphed and her eyes narrowed a little at Harry until she looked as though she was impressed. She hadn't bought a word of what he'd said, but couldn't find fault with what he'd said. To anyone not clued in, Harry would have seemed like a concerned student who wanted to give the new professor a fair chance.

"Well said Mr. Potter," she said. She turned from him and tapped the blackboard with her wand. "Everyone open to page one. Mr. Knott, would you read from page one please? We have a lot to dive into today."

When class was over, Harry tried to will his muscles to relax, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the day wasn't over yet and that something was bound to happen to him. The class was silent as they filed out and no one spoke to him or to each other about the new books or the new teacher. It wasn't until they were all the way down into the dungeons before Draco came up beside Harry and said, "That was so... Slytherin Potter. I never imagined you were that manipulative."

He passed him by and Hermione said, "Ignore him."

Harry felt sick though, whether it was from the tension in Defense class or the truth to what Draco had said. Snape had said Harry was terrible at manipulation at the start of the summer, and Umbridge really hadn't appeared to buy the line Harry had tried to sell her. But Draco approved, and that alone was enough to make him sick, even if Draco hadn't bought it either. More than that though, Harry felt sick at the way Seamus had called him out in class like that. Why had he done that? He supposed he wouldn't be able to ask him until classes were over for the day and they were back in the dorms.

As they entered the potions classroom Ron asked Harry quietly, "How's this gonna go?"

"I dunno," he said.

"Potter, up front," Snape said sharply as Harry and Ron turned to go to their usual seats at the back of class.

"That answer it for you?" Harry asked quietly. Ron held in a groan and went with Harry to the front of the class. Hermione took up a seat at the workbench right behind them, and Snape seemed content to ignore Harry after that.

"Do you have to be up front every class?" Ron asked quietly.

"You can sit with Hermione if you want," Harry said, though he really hoped Ron wouldn't abandon him like that.

Ron turned and saw that Neville was sitting with Hermione though, and the only open seat available was way at the back with Lavender. "Nah," he said, "I'll have to take my chances up here."

When the class was finally seated and settled, Snape said from the front of the room, "You are all in this class for one reason this year: to pass your OWLs. You will all be passing your OWLs or I will be very displeased," he said, voice lowered to a threatening tone. "Only those who receive an Outstanding on their Potions OWL will be accepted into my NEWT potions class next year. Keep that in mind should you find yourself wanting to get a job after Hogwarts that requires NEWT level potions."

He tapped his wand to the blackboard and a list of potions appeared there. He tapped his wand again on the other end of the blackboard and another list of potions appeared.

"The first list has all the potions from previous years that you must have mastered as you will be tested at random on three of them. The examiners will provide the ingredients you need, but will not give you a recipe or tell you which ingredients to use. Each passing potion of the three assigned to you will earn you ten points. Anyone hoping to earn an O on their potions OWL must pass all three of these potions."

He turned and pointed to the second list. "This list has 5th year potions. We will be learning to brew all of these this year. The OWL examiners will assign you one of these at random and will give you the ingredients you need as well as a recipe. Brewing this potion correctly will earn you 30 points. If you are struggling to brew any of these potions this year, you will need to seek out tutoring from a peer that has that potion down. This classroom will be open on Saturdays from 9-11 am for the rest of the year for any 5th through 7th year students that need practice. I will not be tutoring on Saturdays, but will be here to supervise for the two hours the lab is open."

Snape went to his desk and picked up a stack of parchment and handed it to Milicent Bulstrode, who got up and passed them out to the class. "On the parchment are both lists of potions that are on the board, as well as all concepts that will be on the written portion of the potions OWL. The written portion is worth 40 points. Note that most of these concepts are things you should have already mastered in the first four years of Potions class. The rest you will learn this year. In February there will be a practice written potions OWL that you will all take on a Saturday. The practice exam will help you spend the last few months of the school year focusing on concepts you are struggling with. Are there any questions?"

Hermione predictably had a dozen questions, and the rest of the class, knowing how studious Hermione was let her ask them and took notes. Harry wasn't interested in the timetables Hermione wanted to know about, or how many questions were on the written exam, so he instead let his eyes scan down the long list of potions and concepts on the parchment he'd been given.

With the exception of just a few potions from first through fourth year, he felt confident he could brew all of these as he'd had to brew many that summer or after they'd returned to Hogwarts for the Hospital Wing. He could brew bruise balm and pepperup potion in his sleep now.

The second list, the list of potions they'd be brewing that year, were all potions he hadn't brewed yet, though he recognized the names of most of them. Some of them he had notes about already from his time talking to Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing, and others were in his apprenticeship books or had been mentioned in the reading he'd been doing about ingredients.

The list of concepts they'd need to know was long, but Harry mentally crossed twenty off the list right away as they were things he'd been going over all summer long already. There were another ten he thought he'd do well on without studying but wanted to double check to be sure, and ten more concepts he figured they'd be learning this year.

After all the studying he'd done already for his apprenticeship, Harry felt like the things on the list he still had to learn for his OWLs would be nothing to worry about.

"This is going to be awful," Ron said beside him, sounding miserable.

"Shh," Hermione said, "I'm trying to take notes."

Draco was asking questions about the OWLs now and Hermione was trying to copy down Snape's answer word for word.

"It's not so bad," Harry said quietly to Ron. "I can help you."

Ron snorted.

"Really," Harry said, "I got this."

His friend frowned at him for a moment before giving a nod. "Yeah, ok. It'd be wicked if I got an O for once. Mum'd be over the moon."

"SHH," Hermione said more forcefully this time. Harry ducked his head with a grin and Ron sniggered. Snape heard them, and ignored them, and Harry could only wonder at it.

After class was over, Hermione looked stressed and babbled on about having to make a timetable for studying for the rest of the year.

"Forget it," Ron said. "Harry's got us covered."

"He can't take the test for you Ron," she said, exasperated. "Even if he's helping you, you'll still have to take the time to study."

"Yeah, but Harry's on the inside. He'll know how to do it best."

"She's right though," Harry said. "I'm only ahead because I spent hours every day studying in the summer, and brewing. Did you look at the list yet? You need to check off all the ones you know you can brew in your sleep, and then you're going to have to practice brewing the rest on Saturdays." Harry was positive Snape would demand he spend every Saturday brewing, and was hoping Ron and Hermione would be right there with him.

"What do you mean the ones I can brew in my sleep?" Ron asked. "You can brew some of them without having to look at a recipe?"

"I can," Hermione said.

"I know you can," Ron snapped, suddenly sounding a little stressed like Hermione and a lot of the others in class were. "But you can Harry?"

Harry handed his list over to Ron. He'd checked off everything he felt like he didn't need to review or study.

"That's almost every potion on the first list!" Ron said, voice cracking.

"I told you, he made me re-brew everything I failed from the last four years, and then I had to brew a bunch of potions for the Hospital Wing. A lot of the ones on the first list only have four or five ingredients."

"Yeah but we have to memorize them all and how much and in what order and how long to brew and-" he stopped when he ran out of breath and realized Hermione and Harry were both looking at him. "Yeah," he said, deflated. "Gonna have a lot of studying to do."

Hermione gave a nod, satisfied that Ron understood the importance of the timetables she was going to draw up, and then ignored he and Harry for the entire lunch hour as she sat and wrote things down in her calendar.

"You got this, Hermione's got this, but what about me?" Ron asked quietly so Hermione didn't ‘shh' him again.

"We can brew Saturdays. You and I can be at the same workbench and you can just brew and re-brew all the ones you need to memorize. It's not that hard."

"Something wrong with going to school on a Saturday," Ron mumbled, but it seemed he'd run out of steam.

"Will you help me too Harry?" Neville asked. He seemed to have been waiting for a break in his and Ron's conversation to ask.

"Yeah," Harry said. "No problem. Mark all the stuff on your list that you have down already and then let me see it tomorrow night. If you and Ron need help on the same ones we can study and brew those ones together."

"I didn't realize you were so good at potions," Neville said. He must have been following along with them since they were in class. "I thought you were getting average grades."

"Harry's-" Ron started, but closed his mouth.

"It's fine," Harry grumbled. "I'm a potions apprentice now."

Neville raised his brows.

"Snape's apprentice," Ron said.

"Oh no," Neville said quietly, horrified.

"Yeah," Ron snorted in agreement with him.

"I have to pass with an O or I'll be in big trouble," Harry said. "I've been studying potions all summer."

Neville shook his head wordlessly. "No," Neville said. "That's horrible."

"It is what it is," Harry said, aware anyone could be listening. He hated that he had to keep up appearances that everything was fine. It was for Snape's benefit, but he also had to appear to be the happy apprentice in front of Umbridge now after what he'd told her a few weeks before. He was good at pretending, but he wished he didn't have to.

* * *

Harry really needed the break that he got in Care of Magical Creatures that afternoon. He had two full hours to just be himself out on the grounds with Hagrid. They'd had Defense and double Potions that morning with the Slytherins, and still had double Care of Magical Creatures with them too, but at least Harry got to learn from Hagrid without the pressure of feeling as though he'd fail or be in trouble.

Ron was enjoying being outside as well, but Hermione had spent over an hour pestering Hagrid to answer her questions about OWLs. Finally he told her, "It's really not that hard Hermione. Just read yer book and do the homework and yeh'll be fine, see? It's a written test with a hundred questions. Shouldn' even take a smart witch like yeh an hour to finish."

All through dinner Hermione complained about Hagrid not even giving her an idea of where to focus her studies.

"I'm not worried about it," Ron told her.

"You should be. It'll be one of the easiest classes to get a passing OWL in. If you want to be an auror you'll need five above exceeds expectations, and one of them will have to be an O in potions because you need a passing NEWT in your seventh year in Potions to be an auror."

"How do you know all this?" Ron demanded, pointing at the table.

"Because when you and Harry said last year you wanted to be aurors I looked it up!"

Harry drank his pumpkin juice as he watched the two of them go back and forth. He was glad she'd looked it up for them, but he had no desire to watch them bicker for the rest of dinner, so he excused himself, and left the Great Hall. They didn't know where his study nook was in the library yet and he figured he could snag an hour of peace and quiet to do his Defense and Care of Magical Creatures homework if he hurried up to the library.

Harry wasn't the only one with the idea to get an early start on studying it seemed. There were several Ravenclaws and older students in other houses making their way to the library for the evening. One of them called out to Harry when he was almost there.

"Where are you going Potter?"

Harry stopped in the dimly lit corridor to see who had called out to him. It was an older Hufflepuff Harry didn't know.

"Library?" Harry said, wondering why he'd been asked. He threw his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the library.

"Yeah? Studying hard for OWLs, or are you going in there for something else? To meet up with Cedric's old girlfriend maybe?"

"Sorry?" Harry asked, not sure he understood. What did they mean Cedric's old girlfriend.

The boy pushed himself off the wall and came up to Harry so close they were almost touching. He was taller, and looking down at Harry he said, "I know you asked Cho Chang out to the Yule Ball last year. You liked her. That why you dragged Cedric to the graveyard and let him die there, isn't it. You knew He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was waiting there."

"I never- I didn't, I wouldn't," Harry stammered. He was so riled he couldn't even get words out.

"Right Potter," the boy spat. "Cedric was my friend. He was all of our friends. He was worth a thousand of you, and you put an end to him."

Harry shook his head, mouth hanging open.

The boy left him there in the hallway feeling helpless and alone. "You stink Potter!" the boy called out, not turning back to look at Harry. Hufflepuff and Slytherin had made it a point to wear badges throughout the tournament the year before that said ‘Potter Stinks'. He'd had to endure that for an entire school year, and while it had been annoying, maddening even, it hadn't bothered him as much as it did right now to hear it from the sixth year... to hear it from one of Cedric's friends.

Library and homework forgotten, Harry went back to his dorm and closed the curtains around himself. Ron came in twenty minutes later and called out to him, but he didn't answer. He just wanted to be left alone. He didn't want any of the other boys to see him cry.

Harry kept his head down and barely listened through Double Transfiguration and Double Charms, glad that Hermione was taking copious amounts of notes on their upcoming OWL exams since all he could think about was Cedric.

Harry made an effort to pull himself together for Divination at the end of the day, but Treylawney hadn't talked about OWLs at all aside from to say that the exams would reveal who had ‘the gift' and who didn't. Harry felt miserable by dinner and didn't eat much.

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked. "It's OWLs isn't it? Don't worry, I'm creating study schedules for Transfiguration and Charms too."

Ron looked over at her with his mouth open, shocked. "Are you nutters or something? Where have you been all day? You don't have a time turner again do you?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Look at him. It's not OWLs Hermione. It's what people have been saying all day."

She did look at Harry again, but he was trying hard to ignore both of them.

"You haven't been with us at all have you?" Ron asked more quietly, not angry anymore.

"I've been very... focused," she said. "What have people been saying?"

Harry actually got up and left the table, dinner entirely forgotten. He didn't want to hear his friends say it. He didn't want to hear Ron describe the newest ‘Potter Stinks' campaign or go into the details of why the Hufflepuffs were doing it.

He hadn't even made it up the grand stairs to the first floor landing when Ron and Hermione both came up behind him.

"I'm sorry Harry," she said. "That was thoughtless of me."

"Nevermind," he told her. "You didn't have to leave your dinner."

"I didn't," she said. "And I didn't leave yours either."

He turned to her and found her holding out two bread rolls stuffed with meat. Ron had one too and had stuffed his pockets with apples.

"Take it," she told Harry. "You have to eat. Ron said you barely ate at lunch."

"Thanks."

Harry did eat it, though he didn't feel hungry, and felt warmed for a moment at the thought that his friends were willing to leave the Great Hall behind to go with him back to the common room. Harry didn't want to go back to Gryffindor though and face Seamus. He wondered if Seamus had a ‘Potter Stinks' badge too.

"Do you want to study in the library?"

"Ugh, Harry, study is such a dirty word," Ron said. He was clearly trying to make Harry laugh, but Harry couldn't even make himself smile at the moment.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I need to work on the study schedules."

"Fine," Ron said, "I still need to finish my Defense and Care of Magical Creatures homework."

"Me too," Harry told them. They stopped off at Gryffindor to get their books and then Harry led them to his new favorite spot in the library.

"Harry, I know you're being forced to study potions, but does that really mean we have to sit in the potions section?" Ron asked as they went deeper into the potions section of the library. They had just passed a bookshelf full of creepier books that talked about potions and dead creatures.

"There's a spot I wanted to show you."

There were tables and chairs in the larger book aisles as there were in the rest of the library, and they probably thought Harry wanted to sit at one of those, but as they came to the back corner, Hermione made a little noise of approval.

"I love study nooks," she said. There were little study nooks across the library as well, always embedded into a wall. They were usually just a padded bench under a window, though some had a table too. This one was huge comparatively though. "This one's so big."

"It's flooded with light in the day," Harry said. It was dark now, though Hermione tapped her wand to the table to activate the lighting charm placed on the library and the nook lit up enough for them to study with soft warm light.

"Not so bad," Ron commented, dropping his bag and sitting down on one of the benches in front of a window. "Kind of like a private common room."

"There's one like this in the transfiguration section," Hermione said, "But it only has one window and two benches. The Ravenclaws usually sit there so I never get to. There's a little one in the charms section as well, and the Ravenclaws always take that one too."

"Do you mean to tell me Harry found something in the library you didn't know was here?" Ron asked.

"I've never had cause to come this deep into the potions section before," she said. "Most of the books the lower year students need are on the outer edge, or just a few rows in." They both turned to look at Harry.

"Master Snape sent me to find a book he needed a few days before school started. It took me a while to find it."

Harry and Ron pulled out their homework and started working on it while Hermione used a ruler and pen to make several charts. It wasn't long before Ron was complaining about the defense text though.

"How are we supposed to learn with this?" he asked, disgusted. "There's nothing in here."

"It talks about tactics, spying and other useful things later on," Hermione told him, not looking up from what she was working on. "The homework due tomorrow is only for the introduction."

"Let's just get it done," Harry told him. "I have to get a good grade in Defense right now."

They were done with their homework in just over an hour, and Hermione had been waiting for them to finish so she could show them her schedules.

"Actually," Harry said, "could I just see your notes about OWLs from Transfiguration and Charms today?"

"You didn't take any?" she asked. But then when she realized both boys were staring blankly at her she said, "Right. Here they are. I'm not copying the notes out for you though."

"I'm not stupid," Ron reminded her. "I know how to copy."

Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had given them lists similar to the one Snape had given them. McGonagall's had a list of concepts they needed to know followed by a list of basic transfigurations they'd be asked to perform. The difference with Transfiguration and Potions was that they had to be able to perform all 25 transfigurations on the list for the OWL examiners. Charms was the same, but there were only a few concepts listed that they'd be tested on. Most of the Charms exam would be practical and there were nearly 100 charms they had to perform. After Harry had made copies of the lists he went down them and checked off everything he was comfortable with. He felt like he could take the Charms OWL right away and get a good grade, but he'd need to study and practice in Transfiguration.

"What about Divination?" Hermione asked them.

"If you have the gift you pass your OWL," Ron recited.

Hermione huffed. "Honestly, that class is a waste of time and I'm surprised you two haven't dropped it yet."

"We're not allowed to drop it," Harry reminded her.

"We're not allowed before fifth year," she said. "You only need five OWL's. If you drop Divination it will give you two extra hours every week to study for your other classes, not to mention time in the evenings you would have been doing Divination homework."

"I don't see you dropping any courses," Ron said.

"I'm in Arithmancy and I like it thank you very much."

"Fine then, let's drop Divination, History of Magic and Astronomy Harry," Ron said.

"You can't!" Hermione said in shock. "Besides, you can only drop electives until after your OWLs." Ron was grinning at her though. They only went to Astronomy one night a week on Fridays and by fifth year they were only going to History of Magic on Fridays for one hour as well.

She realized he'd been joking and trying to rile her, so she settled down.

"It's a good idea," Harry finally said. He hated Divination class and he needed to spend time studying for the apprentice exams anyway. He could use that time to read his apprentice textbooks.

* * *

Harry took a breath before entering the Defense classroom the next morning. He had a problem. He didn't want to pretend like he had on Monday, but he had to. He'd set a precedent now and he had to follow through. He'd presented himself as the boy who wanted to be sure everyone showed Umbridge respect, so that was the boy he needed to be today, at least in this class. What a hole he'd dug for himself he grouched to himself in his head.

"We're sitting up front," Harry informed his friends as they came up behind him before he went in.

"What?" Ron said. "Why?"

Harry turned to Ron and channeled Percy in that moment. "It's important that we lead by example Ronald. I want everyone to see how much I respect Professor Umbridge and am enjoying her lessons. You could learn something by putting more effort forth in your classes."

Hermione choked behind him and Ron couldn't pick his jaw up off the floor. Harry had never called him Ronald before. Percy always called him that when scolding him, and Hermione had picked up the habit of doing it too.

"You're not Percy are you? Using polyjuice?" Ron asked, turning to go into the classroom.

"Just Harry," he said. "Front row."

Harry and Ron sat together at the front table on the right, and Hermione took up a seat at the front table on the left, the side Slytherin usually sat on. It confused the Slytherins when they came in, but Draco's cold eyes fell on the trio and made up his mind that this was another play at manipulation and decided to join in. He sat in the empty seat next to Hermione.

"Granger, what are we doing today?" he asked her. Umbridge wasn't there yet, so it surprised Hermione along with everyone else that Draco had been so cordial.

"We're showing respect to Professor Umbridge by sitting up front and being ready to learn," she said.

Draco dropped the false respect he'd shown her a moment before and said, "You're not Slytherin enough to pull this off. She'll see right through it."

"Of course she will," Hermione said, but didn't say anything else because she didn't want to engage with him.

As Umbridge came in Harry hoped Seamus would keep quiet today and wondered if he should channel Hermione or Percy for the rest of the class.

"Harry," Ron whispered, and Harry leaned in toward him, keeping his eyes up front. "We really doing this?"

He gave a nod and sat up straight again.

"This can't work," Ron muttered. He was probably right. It couldn't work, but it had to. Harry didn't want a single detention with Snape that year. He didn't want Umbridge to say a word about him to Snape again so that Snape would yell at him. The last time that had happened, Harry had spent too many days in a row studying on a hard stool. He'd rather have as much free time as he could so he could sit with his friends in the library nook. He didn't want to study at all, but if he had to do it, that sort of thing was best done with friends, not alone with Snape.

"My, we are eager to learn today aren't we?" Umbridge asked, seeing Harry and Ron up at the front of the room as opposed to the back row where they had been Monday.

They handed their homework in. Harry had asked Hermione to double check it to be sure he'd given good answers.

"Today we're talking about the dangers of spreading rumors, and how this can negatively affect the wizarding community. The topic of the day is fear mongering." Harry bit his tongue so hard he thought it might bleed. Ron and Draco were right. This was going to be too hard to pull off. As Umbridge came around to face him though, he put on a smile and tried to look eager to learn. Harry raised his hand and noted the gleam of excitement that crossed Umbridge's eyes at seeing his hand up.

"Yes Mr. Potter?"

"Fear mongering played a big role in the Goblin Rebellion of 1512 didn't it maam?"

The excitement was replaced with disappointment. She had hoped he'd open his big mouth and say something stupid, but he'd decided to be Hermione for the rest of the class. He knew little of History and had barely managed a passing grade in the subject for all these years. There were a few things he remembered though, and he had the general idea of how events had played out thanks to Hermione badgering him and Ron to study.

"Yes, a very big role," she said. She turned from him and didn't call on him for the rest of the class, despite that he raised his hand every time she asked a question.

At the end of the class Harry stood up and put his notes away but didn't leave. "Yes Mr. Potter?" she asked. Ron and Hermione were waiting with baited breath by the door.

"I found what we were talking about today really interesting. I was wondering if you could tell me about some books where I could read more about it. I mean to say maam, I'm going to read everything in the chapter about it in our textbook, but I was hoping for some extra reading on it."

She stared into his eyes like she was searching for something, but Harry only waited with as innocent a look as he could muster. Finally she said, "I don't offer extra credit in my classes Mr. Potter."

"I understand. Do you know of any books where I could read more about this?"

"Rebellion Rising," she said. "Portions of chapter two and seven from your textbook come directly from that."

"I'll look for it in the library," Harry said with a smile, trying to seem in earnest. "Thank you." Then he turned and left, ignoring Ron and Hermione until they were down in the dungeons.

"What is happening here?" Ron asked. "Tell me you're not really turning into Hermi- I mean Percy," Ron said when Hermione shot him a look.

Harry felt charged up a little though, amped, like he'd really done something in the last hour. He grinned at Ron and said, "Percy's very helpful sometimes, don't you think? And Hermione too."

"You're crazy Harry. Besides, you wouldn't be saying that if you knew what Percy's been saying lately."

Harry raised his brows but Ron mumbled that he'd tell him later as they went into the upper year potions classroom.

"Take your seats, hurry up," Snape urged the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins coming into the room. They weren't late, but the man wanted them to hurry nonetheless. "We have a lot to get through today." Before the last of the students were seated Snape had already tapped the blackboard with his wand and the recipe for Essence Of Insanity had appeared.

"That's a sixth year potion," Hermione said.

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"She's probably got the sixth and seventh year textbooks," Harry replied, and when she didn't respond, he knew he was right.

"Miss Granger is correct," Snape said, sending the door closed with his wand with a snap as Parvati Patil hurried in and sat down, the last of them to arrive. "Essense Of Insanity is typically a sixth year potion. However, they are offering it on the OWLs this year as a potion for extra credit. This extra credit works differently for OWLs than it does for regular classes. It will not give you extra points to make up for other failed potions during the exam. What it will do however is give you a point towards your NEWT exam. If you choose to brew this optional potion for your OWLs, it will be one less NEWT level potion you must brew in your seventh year when taking your NEWTs. Extra credit points are occasionally added to the OWLs."

Draco raised his hand and Snape called on him. "Why have they added extra credit this year sir?"

Snape didn't look up at Draco, or at Harry as he said, "Because there is a potions apprentice amongst the fifth years. The masters running the potions OWL this year wish to gauge the apprentice's progress. If brewed correctly the apprentice will get one point towards passing their apprentice exam."

The students in the room looked around and murmured some, wondering who the apprentice was and if he or she was in their class. Neville, Ron and Hermione didn't say anything. He knew someone else would ask who the apprentice was and wondered if Snape would tell them or not.

"Miss Parkinson?"

"Who's the apprentice?"

Harry did look up. She was looking across the aisle at Hermione. It made sense, Harry thought. She was an overachiever in every sense and was usually top of the Gryffindor Slytherin class in Potions. She frequently complained that there was a Hufflepuff in their year in the Hufflepuff Ravenclaw class that got better potions grades than her by a few points every year.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry looked away as his face heated up. No one said a word about it or murmured about him and Snape went straight into the lesson.

Twenty minutes later in the storeroom as Harry was gathering supplies for he and Ron to start their first attempt at the potion (Snape had told them the class would be working on it for the next week until everyone had it down), Draco came in and stared at him.

"What?" Harry asked.

"What are you playing at this year Potter? Who took you on as an apprentice?"

Harry turned away from him and pulled a small jar of beetle eyes down from the top shelf.

"Just trying to survive," he said.

"Is it Professor Snape?"

Harry turned and gave the boy a close looking over. He didn't seem like he was there with malicious intent. "Yes." He took his ingredients and went back out of the potions cupboard to deliver them to Ron.

"Is this enough meadow waxcap?" Ron asked, looking into the jar of dried mushrooms Harry had brought out. "We each need two tablespoons crushed," he said, looking down at the recipe he'd copied down for he and Harry while Harry was getting ingredients.

"No," Harry said, "but its all that was left."

"Better check the potions cupboard again," Ron said, and Harry went back in to look, glad that Draco was gone and that everyone else was already settling in to prepare their ingredients.

This potions cupboard was in desperate need of a restock on several ingredients, Harry thought. There was no more meadow waxcap. He looked for snowy and crimson waxcap knowing he could use those, but there was none of those available either.

Harry left the supply closet and went up to the front of the room where Snape had just finished answering questions for Crabbe about the potion they were brewing. He turned to Harry but didn't say anything.

"I need something from the supply cupboard in the corridor."

"Go," he said and waved him away with his hand. Snape didn't usually let students leave the room once class had started, not even to use the loo. Occasionally he took one of the Slytherins or Hermione with him to get extra supplies from one of the other classrooms, but never Harry. He could feel the eyes of his classmates on him as he left the room and went into the corridor. He gave the password Caldus Major, and was pleased that it hadn't been changed since school had started earlier that week.

Harry browsed the shelves for waxcap, but couldn't find the meadow waxcap the potion called for. There was crimson waxcap however. It was from the stock he'd helped gather that summer. Harry took the jar and closed and locked the corridor storeroom before heading back to class with the dried orange mushrooms. Most of the class had finished preparing their ingredients and had moved on to starting their potion.

Harry mashed frog brains and crushed his beetle eyes before adding them to his cauldron along with the seven other ingredients called for in the potions recipe and charmed a fire underneath, waving it up to high to bring the potion to a boil. Then he turned his attention to the crimson waxcaps. Snape had said a fifth as much crimson waxcap was needed to thicken a potion as meadow or snowy waxcap, and that he was supposed to start out with as little as possible and add more as needed to get the right thickness. This potion was supposed to be thick and gelatinous.

They were supposed to have two tablespoons of crushed meadow waxcap, so Harry was going to need slightly less than half a tablespoon of the crimson waxcap, or at least he hoped that he was remembering correctly what he'd been told. It had been over two months since they'd been out collecting mushrooms.

"Harry, no, that's the wrong mushroom," Hermione said from behind him.

"I know," he said.

"But you have to use meadow waxcap."

Harry grinned, knowing she couldn't see it. He'd wondered for a while now how she would handle him substituting an ingredient. He would use the meadow waxcap if he had some, but this was the perfect opportunity to panic her a little. He couldn't deny that since he'd gone to Defense that morning he'd felt full of chaotic energy at pulling off his act with Umbridge. He'd tried to keep Umbridge calm, but now he wanted to make Hermione panic. This must be what Fred and George felt like on a regular basis.

"I'm making a substitution."

"But you can't Harry! We have to follow the recipe!" She sounded desperate for him to understand that he was making a dire mistake. Snape was listening from across the aisle as Hermione's voice rose a little in her desperation, but had yet to come over to tell Harry to borrow some snowy waxcap from someone else to use instead.

"It's ok," Harry said, "focus on your potion or you'll get a bad grade."

She gave a little huff behind him and Harry shared a look with Ron, whose brows were raised. "You know what you're doing right?" he asked Harry.

"Yup."

After an hour Harry's potion was nearly done and their class time was almost up. Before turning down the flame Harry added his crimson waxcap and stirred, hoping he hadn't added too much. Hermione would gloat if he ruined his potion after warning him he was making a mistake. The potion thickened some, but not enough, so Harry added another pinch of the waxcap powder, and after another minute, another pinch after that. Finally it gelled up and Harry turned the heat off altogether and decanted some into the phial they were to turn in to be graded. Ron's was clear but not thick enough. Harry turned and looked at Hermione's and Neville's, whose potions were also clear. Harry's was clear but slightly orange due to the difference in waxcaps.

Snape went around the room commenting on each student's potion. Milicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson had brewed a perfect potion, but none of the other Slytherins had done it correctly. Draco's was close but not perfect enough to get a good grade on the OWL exam. On the Gryffindor side most of the students had failed miserably. Ron's potion had almost passed, much to Ron's surprise, and Hermione's was in the same state as Ron's. Finally Snape came to Harry's cauldron and looked inside. Everyone seemed to be watching to see how badly he'd berate Harry for his potion. Not everyone knew he'd used a different waxcap, but they were used to this part of class, where Snape came to stand in front of Harry to tell him he had a zero for the day.

"Why did you choose to use crimson waxcap?" he asked, looking down into the potion. He wasn't angry, and Harry hoped this was going to be like all the other times they'd brewed together that summer where the man had managed to stay relatively calm.

"The supply cupboard and corridor supply are out of snowy and meadow waxcap sir."

"How much crimson waxcap did you use?"

"I started out with just less than half a tablespoon and then added two more pinches until it was the right thickness."

"Do you believe this is brewed correctly?" he asked.

Harry really hoped he wasn't planning on making Harry try it. Essence of Insanity made the drinker temporarily lose their mind. "It's the right thickness and smells right."

"The color is different than the potions of your peers," Snape countered, again not angry. His voice was even and Harry looked up from the potion to find the man holding his gaze.

"It's orange from the crimson waxcap."

Snape didn't break eye contact and pointed to Ron's cauldron. "What did Mr. Weasley do wrong?"

"He didn't grind up the waxcap enough so when he measured there wasn't enough to thicken it."

"And miss Granger's potion?"

Harry turned and looked into her cauldron. Hers looked all right but the smell was slightly off. It was thick enough, but something just wasn't right about it. He let his eyes rove around her clean workstation and then picked up what remained of her jar of meadow waxcap and opened the lid to look inside.

"Hers aren't dry. They probably mashed instead of turning to powder when she crushed them. Moisture might have gotten into the jar and rehydrated them." He sniffed the open bottle and then set it back down. "They're not moldy. They can just be dried out again."

Snape murmured in agreement and then said, "For those of you who did not pass your potion you will be re-brewing it Friday. Mr. Potter, Miss Parkinson and Miss Bulstrode will also be re-brewing it to prove they have it mastered. They have earned the top marks for the day. Class dismissed."

Harry moved to clean up his station and put the ingredients away but before he could leave class Snape stopped him and said, "Come to my office after dinner. You will retrieve a crate of waxcap from there and then restock this and the corridor supply cupboard. I do not expect it to take more than half an hour."

"Yes sir."

He waved him away and Harry looked back at him, trying to see if the man was angry or had any sort of look of approval on his face. He didn't. His face was impassive, and Harry decided that was the best he could hope for at this point. He'd take impassive over being yelled at and put down.

As they went to lunch, Harry and his friends were silent. They ended up taking seats at the far end of Gryffindor where the table was less crowded.

"That was pretty wicked," Ron said after he'd put two pieces of roast chicken onto his plate.

Harry raised his brows. "It was?"

"Yeah, everyone thought Snape was gonna yell at you for sure, because you usually fail and we figured he'd yell even harder since you're his apprentice now. I think half the class failed because they were watching you and Snape all class," Ron said. "He even let you leave to get supplies from the corridor supply on your own."

Harry shrugged. "I spent three weeks in and out of that corridor cupboard while I was brewing potions for the Hospital Wing."

"Still," Ron said, mouth full of chicken. He swallowed and said, "You could have at least told me I was powdering the mushrooms wrong."

"I didn't see you doing it."

"Then how'd you know I did it wrong?" he asked.

Harry took a drink of water and said, "I looked down at your workstation. You hadn't cleaned up yet. The mortar had leftover waxcap and I could see you hadn't ground it up fine enough."

"Well I won't make that mistake again," Ron said. "Waste of time having to re-brew it if you ask me."

Hermione was quiet throughout their conversation. "What's with you?" Ron asked across the table from her.

"Nothing," she said. She turned to Harry though and asked, "Why did that work? Why did your potion work when you substituted the crimson waxcap? Our textbooks always tell us to follow all of the directions in the recipes."

"Crimson, snowy and meadow waxcap all have similar properties and do the same things in potions," Harry said. "They all thicken potions. The only difference is crimson waxcaps are more potent so less has to be used, and they're also harder to come by which makes them more expensive, so they're not normally in the student store cupboard. I would have used the meadow waxcap if there had been any left."

"And why was my waxcap wet?" Hermione asked.

"Did you open the jar and let it sit open while you brewed before you crushed it?"

She hesitated. "I did."

"The moisture coming off of your cauldron probably did it."

"I didn't think of that." She gave Harry a look like she was surprised he'd thought of it.

"Don't look at me," he said. "It's just a guess. But I spent days and days on my hands and knees foraging for different waxcaps, drying them out, crushing them, and selling them this summer. Every step of the way I got quizzed by master Snape and the apothecary I was selling them to. When all you think and talk about is waxcaps for two weeks it's hard to forget the information."

"Well," Hermione said, finally picking up her fork to start eating, "the apprenticeship seems to be serving you well."

"I'll trade you," Harry told her, and she looked up, question in her eyes. "You take the apprenticeship and I'll take the freedom of having summer and Christmas holidays and being able to focus on my regular classes without having to worry about extra work and extra books I have to memorize."

"I don't think she meant anything by it," Ron commented blandly across the table.

"Neither did I," Harry said, and he nudged Hermione a little next to him. "You're not gonna be mad at me all year if I'm getting better grades in Potions than you, are you?" he asked.

She scoffed. "No, I'm just going to have to study harder."

"Or," Ron offered up, "you could let him tutor you."

She scoffed again, but then looked at Harry sheepishly, like she'd just realized she might have been insulting him. Usually it was Ron who was putting his foot in his mouth. Harry laughed.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "You still have to get me through Transfiguration and History of Magic."

"Oy," Ron said and they looked across the table at him. "I'm smart at some things too you know. I can get Harry through Transfiguration."

Hermione and Harry shared a smile with each other but didn't say anything. Ron was good at Transfiguration but his grades didn't reflect it because he never spent any time on his homework.

* * *

Friday during Potions class Snape had set up three smaller workbenches and sent Harry, Milicent and Pansy to sit at them. Harry's was at the front by the workbench he'd been sharing with Ron, but far enough away from Ron that they couldn't chat comfortably. Pansy's was at the back of the room and Milicent's was next to the workbench she usually shared with her friend Tracey.

"Anyone who did not brew a perfect Essence of Insanity potion Wednesday will re-brew it today. Follow the recipe and ensure your ingredients are prepared correctly. Miss Parkinson, Miss Bulstrode and Mr. Potter, you will re-brew the potion without looking at the recipe. Potter, use the ingredients found in the crate under your workstation."

The rest of the class moved to go into the supply cupboard to gather ingredients and Harry picked up the crate of ingredients set aside for him, wondering why he wasn't allowed to go into the supply cupboard. Maybe Snape didn't like that he'd substituted waxcaps on his own without asking.

Harry was confused when he looked through the ingredients he'd been given though. There was a jar with a single crimson waxcap, a single snowy waxcap, and half a meadow waxcap. There wasn't enough of any of them to get the required amount of a single kind of waxcap into the potion. He examined the waxcaps further. Even together the three wouldn't be enough to brew a full Essense of Insanity potion, at least not with the recipe they'd used Wednesday.

The rest of the ingredients looked to be what he needed, though the beetle eyes were already crushed for him.

Harry pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote down the recipe from what he remembered Wednesday. If he'd been asked to do this after a week he might not have remembered. He set to work crushing his waxcaps first. He crushed the meadow and snowy waxcap together and measured them. It wasn't even half a tablespoon of powder. The single crimson waxcap only amounted to a few pinches. He supposed if he wasn't allowed any more ingredients he'd have to cut the potion recipe down to match the amount of waxcaps he had. If he cut it in half... no, maybe a little less than half, it might work. He did some maths for a few minutes until he was sure he had cut the recipe down enough and then began measuring and preparing ingredients. It was almost fun. He'd expected to be bored having to re-brew this today, but then Snape had given him and the two Slytherin girls the added challenge of doing it without providing them the recipe. Pansy and Milicient hadn't received crates of ingredients, so Harry assumed Snape was giving him the added challenge of dealing with the wrong amount of ingredients.

"Harry."

Harry looked up. Ron was whisper yelling at him to get his attention.

"Do these look ok?" Ron asked, holding up a phial of meadow waxcap. Harry was close enough to see what he had but too far away to really examine the ingredients.

"If it's dry and the right color and doesn't smell moldy," Harry said, not bothering to whisper.

"Let Mr. Weasley pass or fail on his own Potter," Snape said as he swept by, but he left it at that as he was on his way to criticize Goyle for grabbing a non-waxcap mushroom out of the store cupboard.

After making his smaller batch of the potion Harry added all of his meadow and snowy waxcap powder in and watched to see if it would gel. It was starting to, but not enough, so he added the little he had of his crimson waxcap. The potion gelled and looked as it had on Wednesday. None of the other students were done with their potions yet, but they'd had more ingredients to prepare than Harry did. Snape seemed to have expected this and came over the moment Harry canceled the flames under his cauldron.

After looking into the cauldron and not finding anything wrong with the potion, he said, "Show me the maths you used to figure out the proportions of the new potion."

Harry handed him the parchment with his scribbles and felt satisfied that Snape hadn't been able to trip him up on this one. He was certain that was what he'd been trying to do.

Snape handed the parchment back and said, "Keep your calculations in neat columns, left, center, then right. More complex potions will require more maths and you are likely to get your calculations mixed up if you do not keep them organized."

"Yes sir."

"Clean up your workstation and spend the rest of the class period studying."

Harry did as he was told and then sat down to study in one of his apprentice texts. Class was over in another twenty minutes, and Harry stopped studying to see how his friends had done. Hermione had passed her potion this time and so had Ron and Draco along with a few others. Many still hadn't though.

"Everyone will re-brew this potion again on Monday," Snape announced, and then he dismissed the class.

"What were you doing over there with your potion?" Hermione asked as they walked to lunch. Harry explained it to her.

"I think he was trying to trip me up. Pansy and Milicent only had to brew theirs with no instructions. I had to brew mine with the wrong amount of ingredients."

"Think that's what we'll be doing Monday?" Ron asked.

"Just memorize the recipe and you should be fine," Harry said.

* * *

Harry had not been told to go to the potions lab on Saturday morning, but assumed he was expected to be there, so he showed up with Hermione. Ron had opted out because he preferred to have Saturday off altogether. Neville went with them though because Harry had promised to help him with the list of OWL potions that he didn't have down yet.

None of the other Gryffindors showed up, but a few of the Slytherins did, along with a handful of Ravenclaws and two Hufflepuffs. Harry made sure to grab a workbench as far from the Hufflepuffs as he could. Most of the Hufflepuffs were wearing ‘Potter Stinks' badges by Friday, and even the younger ones had taken to calling him out in the corridors between classes over Cedric's death. Hannah Abbot and Ernie McMillan didn't say anything to Harry since Snape was there, and they opted instead to work with their friends from Ravenclaw in the back corner of the potions room.

"You may brew whatever potion is on the list that you are struggling with during these lab times," Snape said. "I will answer questions if you have them, but will not be tutoring you. When you are done brewing a potion you may bring it to me to examine so I can tell you if it's passing or failing."

Hermione and Neville stood on one side of the workbench Harry and Ron usually shared, and Harry stood on the other side facing them. He didn't have any potions he wanted to brew that day and had figured on just taking notes out of his apprentice books while he was there helping Neville for two hours, or doing whatever else Snape wanted him to do.

"What potion should I start with?" Neville asked Harry, setting his list down on the table between them. He only had a few checked off.

"Start at the top," Harry said. He looked over to Hermione but she didn't look like she wanted his help. Most of her first through fourth year potions were checked off already, and he wondered if she was going to attempt some of the fifth year potions they were going to be learning that year but hadn't yet. Instead she seemed to be practicing the one they'd brewed twice that week already.

Neville went to the supply cupboard and brought out the ingredients for pepperup potion. He started pulling out ingredients right away but Harry put out a hand to stop him. "Look over the recipe first," he instructed. "Get a good idea for what the steps are and the timing of when you're going to have to add things in. Sometimes if you prepare ingredients too early they'll spoil, or if you prepare some that don't go in until the end and neglect the ones you need at the beginning you could end up rushing and the potion won't turn out."

Neville nodded and took a deep breath. "Right, I should have thought of that. I never do that." He took a few minutes to look over the recipe, and then started to prepare ingredients. Harry pulled out his book on compositions and classes of potions and picked up where he'd left off in chapter two. He understood there were 27 classes of potions, and he'd been working on memorizing all 27 classes despite having trouble remembering the last ten. Each of the 27 chapters of the book were broken up into their own class as well as different potion compositions and examples for each class.

Chapter one had been easy enough, it was about restorative healing potions and had potions like Skelgrow and potions to mend bones or heal deep gashes and cuts. There were only two different types of compositions for restorative healing potions, and every potion in that category fell into one of the two composition types. This meant that there was a base for one composition and a base for another composition, and then individual ingredients that went in on top of whatever base was needed for whichever restorative potion you were using. Harry understood all of it and had read the chapter three times already.

The problem was that chapter two was about core replenishing potions. These were potions that restored a person's magical core when it was severely depleted, and there were nine different compositions for the 18 potions listed in this category. It was going to take him forever to memorize the bases for the nine compositions, and he didn't understand why there had to be nine bases. For regular restorative potions it was clear why half of the potions were built on one base and half on another, but there was no rhyme or reason to what he was being taught in chapter two.

"Harry, how's this look?" Neville asked, and Harry looked up, glad to have a break for a moment because his head was starting to hurt from trying to figure out the compositions of core replenishing potions.

"Looks good so far," he said. "What step are you on?"

"I've been stirring it for sixty seconds every few minutes."

"Look at it and look at the description of what it should look like."

Neville looked down at the recipe and then back into his cauldron. "It's bright red like it should be," he said. "Thin, and it smells like mint."

"Is it done?" Harry asked.

Neville fidgeted. "I don't know, is it?"

"How long did you brew it for?"

"It's been on the heat for 14 minutes."

"Is that what the recipe says?" Harry asked, and Neville looked again, and then nodded.

"Turn down the heat," Harry said, and then told him, "taste it."

Neville's face paled. Snape was always threatening to make them test their own failed potions. "It's fine," Harry reassured him. "This one's harmless if you have some and it looks like it's been brewed right. Taste it." To prove his point Harry stuck his pinky finger into the hot liquid, tried not to wince at how hot it was and put his finger in his mouth.

Neville, still looking uncertain, did the same. "Blech," he said. "That's disgusting. It's so bitter!"

"You did it right but didn't get enough peppermint in there. Banish this one and do it again. You can't actually add too much peppermint to this one so add as much as you want to get a good flavor."

"That's not what the recipe says," Hermione finally commented. She seemed to be at a place in her potion where she could take a break for a few minutes as it simmered. She pointed to the book Neville had open with the recipe in it and read, "27 peppermint leaves."

"I used 27 though," Neville said. "I counted twice before I added them."

"Look at how small they are though," Harry said. "When you add leaves like this it's imprecise. Potions that need a precise amount of something call for powder or a certain weight of the item. Some peppermint leaves are huge and others are tiny. The ones you're using are small. If they wanted a precise amount they wouldn't have just said ‘leaves'. The peppermint in this potion is just there for the taste and some basic health benefits like settling an upset stomach or helping with headaches and sinus infections. You can add as much as you want."

"But the recipe," Hermione insisted.

Harry motioned for Neville to start his potion over again and he set to work while Harry looked across the table at his friend, trying to think of the best way to explain it to her.

"Do you like peppermint tea?" he asked.

"Of course," she said. They usually served it with dinner along with pumpkin juice and water.

"But how do you like it? Ron adds a lot of sugar to his and Ginny likes hers weak and always adds extra water to hers."

"I prefer it strong," Hermione said.

"Yeah, Ginny's ruining hers by adding more water, isn't she?"

"It's not the same with potions," she said.

"Just go with me on it for a minute," Harry told her.

She looked like she didn't want to but said, "She's not ruining it."

"Even if the recipe calls for it to be made strong?"

"Even so, it's up to preference."

Harry sat up straight and said, "So are some potions."

"That's not how it-"

He raised his brows at her and she closed her mouth so he could finish. "Everything else in Pepperup is precise because it needs to be so the potion will turn out, but in that specific potion the peppermint is there more for the taste than anything else. Just like stronger peppermint tea, it's not going to hurt someone if there's too much. Not everythings like that, you can't just add random stuff to a potion to make it taste better, but with this potion you can definitely add as much peppermint as you want."

"Why doesn't the book say that?" Hermione asked, and the three of them startled then as Snape spoke from behind her. They hadn't noticed him come over to them.

"Because first through fifth year potions is about learning to follow easy recipes and preparing ingredients so your textbooks encourage you not to deviate from instructions. NEWT level potions goes into substitutions and basic potions theory. Beyond NEWT potions is an apprenticeship, which goes deeper into potions theory and potion creation and experimentation as well as other things." He looked down at Harry's open apprentice book and pointed at the chapter Harry was reading. "By the time Potter has this chapter memorized he should be able to brew potions with any of the bases here and make substitutions as needed, so long as the bases are stable, because he will understand the theory behind class two potions and why the ingredients work together the way they do."

"Yes sir," Hermione said, and he left to go answer a question one of the Ravenclaws had.

Harry sighed. "That's all well and good except I'm never going to understand chapter two," he said. "It's too complicated and there's no reason or pattern to the potion bases in this chapter." He wished he could just ask Hermione for her help, but for the first time in a long time he found himself in the odd and unenviable position of knowing more than her about something.

"You could ask Professor Snape," Hermione said, as though reading his mind.

"Could do, probably won't," Harry said.

"Did he teach you about the peppermint leaves?" Neville asked, nearly done with his second batch of pepperup.

"Yeah, a few weeks ago," Harry said. Then both Neville and Hermione stared at him, willing him to get the point.

Harry sighed and rose to go across the room with his apprentice text. He needed to talk to Snape anyway because Professor McGonagall had informed him earlier in the week that if he wanted to drop Diviniation he needed Snape's approval first.

"Professor Umbridge Ron," Harry said. Whenever they talked about Umbridge he was always on high alert, aware she could be listening. "You should be respectful."

Ron flopped onto the bench and began to pull his homework out. The two of them were normally in Divination at this time, but Snape had agreed to let Harry out of the class so he could have more time to study potions, and Ron's mother had agreed only if Ron promised to pass all of his OWLs.

"Right," Ron said.

"It's actually interesting," Harry said, not looking up at him.

"Are you sure? Maybe Hermione's been rubbing off on you a little too much."

Harry set the book down on the table in front of them and pushed it towards Ron. "Look. It's a blueprint for a rebellion."

Ron scoffed. "The Ministry put out a blueprint for a rebellion?"

"No, our Defense book has excerpts from this book, and that was put out by the Ministry. This book was written by some old guy twenty years after he helped lead a rebellion against a group of vampires who had been holding wizards in servitude to bleed them dry."

"Ugh, disgusting," Ron said, sitting back and pushing the book away from himself. "I don't want to hear about vampiric draining."

"Well listen to this," Harry said. "When we heretofore had gathered the captive Muggles and captive wizards together we had to bring them to agreement that a rebellion must be waged. There had been much distrust between both groups as the Muggles felt it was the fault of the wizards for their entire village being captured and carried out to the rock on the sea. A war had to be waged first to capture the hearts and minds of both peoples before there could be true rebellion. We had need to work together to escape that forlorn and desolate place, and that could not happen until all were in agreement."

Harry looked up from the passage he'd been reading aloud. "It's a blueprint," he said. "I looked up a couple other books the Defense book quotes from and they're about rebellions too. One is about a rebellion that was quashed, and one is about the goblin rebellion. They all have the same things in common though. They all start with an information war to bring people together or to agreement."

Ron was just staring at him. "This is why they've been blasting me and Dumbledore in the papers. They think we're trying to get people on our side for a rebellion or something. That's why we've spent the last two weeks learning about misinformation and propaganda in Defense."

"And she's been teaching us that anything that doesn't come directly from the Ministry is propaganda," Ron said, finally understanding.

Harry scooted back on the bench and wedged himself in between the two bookcases on either side of the window. "Umbridge is here because the Ministry thinks we're gearing up for war."

"Psh."

"Do you know what she said to me the other day?" Harry cleared his throat and put on a mock high girlish voice, being sure to whisper in case anyone was in the potions section outside the nook listening. "Mr. Potter, how did you find the book I suggested to you? I noticed you checked it out last week."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "She's checking up on you? How does she know what you check out?"

Harry explained the apprentice and teacher checkout list to him. "Any of the teachers can see what anyone checks out, but it's easier to find what I'm reading since my name is on the teachers list."

"What did you tell her?"

"I asked if I could come to her office sometime after classes to talk about it with her."

"You're nutters. You've fully lost it."

Harry shrugged. "She said she was busy." Harry tapped the open book. "It's all in here you know. In the months before they rebelled against the vampires, they cooperated with them and let them think they were fully compliant, that way it would be a surprise."

"We're not mounting a rebellion though," Ron reminded him.

"But don't you kind of want to make her think we are?"

"Whatever you're talking about sounds like a terrible idea," Hermione said, coming around the corner into the nook and sitting in her favorite spot. She looked exhausted.

"We're talking about making Umbridge think we're planning a rebellion."

"I thought we talked about this already Harry," Hermione said. "Even if they thought you and the Headmaster were planning something, you'll only make it worse for yourself if you throw wood on the fire."

"Just wanted something to do," Harry said. "Fred and George would be all in."

"You don't have enough to do already?" Hermione asked. She'd been pushing hard to catch up to him in potions. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if she'd sent away for her own set of apprentice books and was just waiting for them to come in.

"She already suspects me, and I think I'd kind of like to lead her around on a wild goose chase." Umbridge had been following Harry around when she wasn't in classes or teacher's meetings. Every time he turned around she was there behind him talking to a student, or trailing a corridor behind on his way to the library. She hadn't ambushed him in the potions nook yet, but she'd caught up with him in the defense section twice. She seemed to be staking that section out. "I can't even go to the defense section anymore," he complained. He'd been in the defense section looking for a book on defensive charms which Flitwick had recommended they study for the upcoming OWLs, and had gone back a few days later to get a book on defensive Transfiguration which McGonagall had recommended to them. It didn't matter that he'd told her they were for classes. She'd practically accused him of dueling after hours and asked him half a dozen questions on why he might feel like he would need to do such a thing.

"It is getting a little old," Ron said. "Harry's not the only one she's been following. She's creeping me out."

Both boys looked to Hermione. "Don't look at me like that. If you're going to stoke the flames, leave me out of it. I barely have enough time to study as it is. I've just added another study group to my week on Saturday evenings. I have a lot of extra material to get through for Arithmancy."

"Are you going to miss the Mabon feast tomorrow night?" Ron asked.

"No," she said. "The study group is meeting afterward. There's more to life than just eating Ronald. Are you going to come to the potions lab tomorrow morning?"

"Well, you know, I was thinking of having a lie in," he said, stretching like he was too tired to finish out the day.

"Neville's catching up to you," Harry said. "He's already checked four more potions off his list. He'll have passed you up by tomorrow if you don't go to the lab."

"It's only for two hours," Hermione said before Ron could object. "Some people only stay for one."

"You're not even brewing," Ron said to Harry. "I don't know why you don't stay back in the common room on Saturdays."

"I probably will when I'm done helping Neville," Harry said. "Then you'll end up realizing most of the way through the year that you need to practice and I won't be there to help."

Ron grumbled, but the next morning he ended up going with them to the lab anyway. Harry told Ron to brew whatever Neville was brewing so he could help them both at the same time, and it worked out well because they were both making the same mistakes while trying to brew a boil cure potion. "Stop crushing the nettles with your fingers. Just drop them in."

"They're too brittle though," Ron said, "I'm not trying to crush them."

"Just be careful, it's not that hard. When you crush them they release the oils inside and you don't want that."

"Seems like if we don't want something in the potion we should just leave it out altogether."

Harry laughed, glad Ron had come. He was happy to help Neville, but Hermione was always so quiet while she brewed because she was focused on what she was doing. Having Ron there meant they could chat and joke while they brewed. Even though they were in a potions classroom and Snape was there at the teacher's desk, it was such a different experience than brewing during class time.

Ron and Neville made it through two potions in an hour and Hermione insisted on Ron starting a third instead of leaving an hour before the lab time ended. She was coaching them on which one to practice so Harry figured she could handle it and moved off towards the door. He wanted to go up to the dorms and get the flashcards Snape had given him the week before to start writing out all 27 classes of potions so he could memorize them. The flash cards would work well he thought, because he could keep them in his bookbag and pull them out when he had spare time.

"You suck Potter," a Hufflepuff seventh year who was by the door practicing a NEWT level potion said as he passed. He tried to ignore her but before he could get all the way out into the corridor she said, "I hate your guts."

Harry's stomach churned but he kept moving and didn't look back at her. Two more Hufflepuffs jeered at him and called him names in the corridors as he made his way up through the castle, and by the time Harry made Gryffindor he decided it was best if he stayed there for the rest of the day. As soon as he reached the dorm and came face to face with Seamus, who openly sneered at him as he came in, he had second thoughts about that choice however. He thought about going to the library, but didn't want to run into Umbridge on his way there and be interrogated again about which books he was reading and why. Harry grabbed his note cards out of the desk he shared with Ron and plopped down onto his four poster bed, pulling the curtains closed around it and spelling them silent to make sure he didn't disturb Seamus, who was studying and gruffing two beds over about Harry. Everywhere he could think of to go seemed like a terrible option, and he wished he could just get away from everyone who was mad at him or suspicious of him.

He opened his curtains again to get his apprentice book on compositions and classes of potions and retreated back into his four-poster. He couldn't really concentrate on what he was doing though. He wrote up five note cards before he heard Seamus get up and leave the dorm, closing the door with a snap. Harry sighed and took the silencing charm off of his curtains.

He'd been looking forward to coming back to school to get away from the Dursleys and Snape. Now he was here and he found he couldn't wait to escape to anywhere else. He couldn't stand to look into the faces of any Hufflepuffs he passed or had classes with because most of them scowled or stared at him. If it was just that they didn't like him, he could deal with that. Knowing that they hated him for getting Cedric killed was just a daily reminder that Cedric's death was his fault however. Harry knew it was, but he couldn't concentrate on classes, his books, or anything else when the memory of that night was running through his mind on repeat.

He looked back down to his book and the empty notecard he'd brought to the front of the stack. If he could force himself to concentrate he might be able to force thoughts of the light leaving Cedric's eyes after a bright green flash from his mind.

‘Chimaeric Potions And Their Compositions'. Just write it down, he thought to himself, and wrote, ‘Class 6 - Chimaeric'. The graveyard fought to come back into focus in his consciousness again however as Voldemort forced him to bow with a quick Imperio. ‘Blue Chimaeric bases focus on ingredients that will produce an icy effect. Red Chimaeric bases focus on ingredients that produce heat and fire effects. Mixed together into a purple Chimaeric potion, these bases will produce heat and ice which can be effective in stopping...' Harry's hand shook as he flipped the card over on the back and wrote, ‘Blue base - Ice, Red base - Fire, Purple = Ice & Fire'. Shadows of his parents and Cedric were coming out of the stream of magic that had been created when Harry's wand had connected with Voldemorts and Cedric was asking Harry to take his body back to his parents...

Harry took his apprentice book and threw it across the bed. It hit the curtains with a dull swoosh and fell down beside the bed to the floor. He sat breathing heavily. He would never have had to take Cedric's body back if he hadn't taken the cup with him... if he had just been better and had gotten to the cup first he would have found himself alone in the graveyard. It was his fault and the Hufflepuffs knew it. They didn't know the details... didn't understand all that had happened that night despite what Dumbledore had told the school, but they knew it was because of Harry in some way. There was no pretending with them when they knew the truth.

The dormitory door opened and Ron came in, apparently done with Potions lab. "Harry?"

Harry didn't respond, still trying to calm his breathing as he rocked himself gently. He was aware Ron was there, aware he was in his dorm, but he wasn't there at the same time. Voldemort's smooth pale face was screaming after him as he took the portkey and Cedric's body and fled. He was vowing he would come after Harry wherever he went.

"What's your apprentice book doing on the floor?" Ron asked. He opened the curtain to Harry's bed and took in Harry's shaken appearance. "What happened?"

Harry shrugged and looked down to his note cards.

"Harry?"

"I just need something to do," Harry said, moving to slide off the bed and taking the book from Ron.

"Well you have Quidditch practice in an hour, don't you?" It was the first Gryffindor Quidditch practice of the season. They had one month until their match with Slytherin the day before Halloween.

"Yeah," Harry said, thinking it through. In the last half hour he'd forgotten that he had all sorts of things that day to keep himself occupied with. Two hours of Quidditch practice followed by the Mabon feast that evening, where just about everything on the table would be made of apples. "Want to go down to the Pitch with me early? We can fly for a bit."

"I'll borrow Fred's broom. Be right back." Out of his two older brothers still there at school with them, Fred was the one more likely to allow Ron to borrow his things.

Harry got into his Quidditch gear and before he was done Ron had returned with Fred's broom. "Just gonna grab my coat. Fred said if there's a twig out of place in the tail he'll never let me borrow it again."

Harry was quiet as they made their way down through the castle. In the Entrance Hall a first year Hufflepuff asked Harry if he had ever killed any first years, and Harry went pale.

"What's the big idea?" Ron shouted at the sandy haired boy, who had seemed afraid in the first place and at the same time genuinely curious to know if Harry was out to get first years. "Go back to your common room and stop asking dumb questions! Harry never killed anyone!" The first year seemed properly chastised by the elder Prefect and hurried off towards the corridor under the Great Hall.

"I should have taken points off of him," Ron said. Then he looked back to Harry and his pale face. "They've been doing that all day, haven't they." It wasn't a question. He sighed and grabbed Harry's sleeve to get him moving again. "C'mon. I'm gonna put you through your paces on the field. I was thinking of trying out for Keeper if the spot ever comes open. You can try to score some goals past me."

Harry wasn't very good at throwing a Quaffle as it turned out, though the challenge did get him out of his head for the forty minutes they got to practice before the rest of the team came down to the field. Because Ron was already there on a broom, the new Quidditch Captain, Angelina Johnson told Ron to grab a school broom so Fred could have his back and let him stay on the field for the entire practice, which thrilled him. She posted him at the goal posts at one end of the field and their backup Keeper Cormac McLaggen, who was a sixth year at the other end of the field. Cormac had some experience as he'd practiced with Gryffindor the previous year, but Ron had stopped the Quaffle more times than he had by the end of practice.

"Looks like you earned yourself a spot on the team Weasley," Angelina said at the end of practice.

"I did?" Ron asked, surprised.

"Keeper. Cormac can stay the backup Keeper. You need a lot of practice, but you'll make a great Keeper if you can get some of the moves down. Your eyes are sharp like Harry's." She motioned to Harry, who had thrown himself fully into the practice that afternoon trying to forget all about the Hufflepuffs, Seamus, Cedric, and Voldemort. As a result Harry had caught the Snitch seventeen times, including once when he'd gone careening into the mud on the field in order to catch it. His Quidditch uniform was caked in dry mud from head to toe.

"You're not having me on are you?" Ron asked her, but Fred and George came up behind him and slapped him on the back.

"Better get your own broom Ron," Fred said. "Can't borrow mine for practices."

Ron whooped, which brought a small smile to Harry's face.

"You'll have your uniform by next Saturday. We have practices Monday, Wednesday and Saturday every week until the first game," she said, "so show up on time or I'll let Cormac have your spot."

Ron dragged Harry all the way up to the castle and then up to the Owlery so he could send a letter off with Pig to his parents to let them know he'd made the team. He didn't even let Harry stop at Gryffindor tower to change out of his muddy clothes first.

"How am I gonna afford a broom though?" Ron asked as he penned a letter on a scrap of parchment he'd borrowed from another student in the Owlery. "Fred and George each had to earn half the money for one first before mum and dad chipped in the other half."

"Don't look at me," Harry said. "I've got about twenty Sickles to my name. You can have it if you want, but it's a long way off from ten Galleons."

"Well if I get the newest Cleansweep that's sixteen Galleons, so I'd only need to earn eight. Then I'd have a broom two models higher than Fred and George's."

Ron sent off his letter, but not before Pig had pooped on his arm. Ron was so excited about getting onto the team that he didn't even care. "See? Even Pig's excited!"

When they got back to their dorm Harry didn't bother trying to settle in to study or write out notecards for the 27 classes of potions. Instead he sat with Ron who told anyone who would listen that he'd done so well out on the field that they'd picked him for the new Keeper without holding tryouts. He continued enthusing about it as they walked down to the Great Hall for dinner and all the way through the Mabon feast.

Harry focused on Ron as much as he could, trying to ignore the urge to look over to Hufflepuff table. He wished he could just look up and see Cedric sitting there chatting with his friends. If only he had access to a time turner like Hermione had once had. Instead of trying to pretend that Cedric was there at Hufflepuff however, the elder boy's voice came into Harry's ear with the words of his friends. "You stink Potter."

"Harry, where are you going?" Ginny asked when Harry stood suddenly from the table.

"Library," he said.

"Now?" Hermione asked.

"I have to study."

Ron was disappointed that they were going, but seeing Harry's pale face again he rose to leave with him, Hermione and Ginny going too.

"Look," Ron said, moving into Harry's field of view in the Entrance Hall. He had an armful of apple muffins... almost a dozen of them.

"That's a bit much," Hermione said. Ron popped one into his mouth though and said, "Nah. It's Maybon Hermione. If you're gonna make me study on Mabon I'm gonna need snacks."

Ron didn't study, neither did Harry and Ginny. Hermione tried, but gave up when her friends wouldn't stop talking as they sat in the potions nook in the library. Ron had finally stopped talking about Quidditch and they'd moved on to other topics. Harry wasn't happy but he was grateful that they'd come and were keeping his mind occupied. He'd talk about anything right now to keep his mind off of that night in the graveyard.

* * *

"We need a plan," Harry said a few days later. Ron had decided to take points off of anyone that said something to Harry about the last night of the tournament, and as a result had been questioned by McGonagall twice about how many points Hufflepuff had lost. The teachers kept a close eye on all points deducted by Prefects to make sure the point deductions were fair. Since Ron was only taking one point per instance she agreed that the point loss was fair and told him that she'd talk to Professor Sprout about the issue with the Hufflepuffs. The ongoing taunting and sneers from the Hufflepuffs had had an unexpected effect on Harry though. Beyond making him remember Cedric and reminding him all day long that Cedric was his fault, it had made Harry realize just how dire a situation he and his friends were facing now that Voldemort was back. Frequently re-living the night in the graveyard made him recall how helpless he had felt against the Imperio, the Cruiciatus, and other spells Voldemort had sent his way. Cedric had been three years ahead of Harry and his friends and he had been helpless too.

"Hm?" Hermione asked, looking up from her Arithmancy notes.

"We need a plan to learn what we need to, and to throw Umbridge off so she doesn't do something."

"We talked about this," she said, going back to her notes. "I want no part in it."

"I don't mean as a prank, or just for fun," he said, voice and eyes hard. "We need to learn to defend ourselves. We can't do that in class, and I can't even make it into the defense section anymore."

Hermione sighed but was listening.

"I asked Ron to go to the defense section and get the best book he could find on shields or countercurses or defensive hexes," Harry said. "That was before you came in and sat down." He motioned to the nook they were sitting in.

"That was twenty minutes ago," she said, eyes traveling over to the nook's opening as if she expected to see Ron making his way to them through the stacks at any moment.

"He left thirty minutes ago."

"What do you think is keeping him?"

"Umbridge," Harry said.

Her eyes came back around to him again. "The Ministry clearly doesn't want us to learn defense or they wouldn't have sent her to teach us and wouldn't have replaced our book."

Hermione hesitated before saying, "I've found the book enlightening actually. It's a different kind of defense."

"Spying, sneaking around, gathering information," Harry said.

"Yes."

"I read the whole thing. It's helpful, but not in the way we need. Nothing in there will help us when a Death Eater casts an Imperio on one of us, or the Cruciatus, or if we have to get into a duel."

Hermione was quiet. It was the first time Harry had described his experience in the graveyard, and even though he hadn't mentioned the graveyard, she knew it was what he was talking about.

"They're going to use unforgivables on us and we won't have a shield to block them, or any way to counter them at all. We need to learn, and we can't if Umbridge is bent on keeping us out of the defense section of the library."

"I wish we could just buy the books we need," she said. "I could send away for some with my allowance."

"I gave the last of my money to Ron," Harry said.

"I should have enough for two books at least," she said. "And if I go home for Christmas I could ask my parents to take me to Diagon Alley so I can spend whatever Christmas money I get."

"You shouldn't have to do that," Harry said. "There's all these books here and we're not allowed to access them."

At that moment, Ron came back into the Potions nook, hands stuffed down into his pockets.

"Nothing?" Harry asked.

"Nothing. She wasn't there, but Filch was. It was weird. He followed me through the Defense stacks and as soon as I pulled a book off the shelf he came over and asked what I was doing. He stuck his hand in his pocket and for a minute I wondered if he'd got hold of a wand or something, but just kept it there and a few minutes later Professor Umbridge came around the corner."

Harry shook his head. "Something's wrong but I don't know what. How does she know when to come? Filch can't do magic to send a patronus down to her."

"He must have a way to call her," Hermione said, "some sort of device or something."

"Must be," Ron said, sitting down. "I had a book in my hand on shields and she asked me all sorts of questions. What interest do you have in shields? There hasn't been a dueling club at Hogwarts in three years, so who do you think is going to be casting hexes at you that you would need a shield to protect yourself against? I told her I wanted to be an auror after school and was interested in all defense subjects, and she laughed at me... you know the way she does, high and giggly like she thinks I'm stupid or silly or something. She said with how poor my essays have been in Defense since school started that she didn't think I had much of an interest in defense at all and would make a poor Auror. She said our textbook is one of the apprentice books for first year aurors."

"So she didn't let you check a book out of the defense section?"

"She didn't say I couldn't, but she wouldn't leave me alone about it. Finally I put the book back and left."

They sat there in a stony silence for long moments, the weight of their situation settling in over them.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked as Harry stood up and she had to move to let him out of the nook.

"C'mon, I want to see if she's got charms up on the defense section to let her know when someone goes in."

They followed him out of the massive potions section and into the herbology section where they found Neville.

"Can you do something for us?" Harry asked him. He was in the middle of an extra credit essay for Herbology, which was his best subject.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Can you just walk into the defense section of the library? Don't go down a row of books, just step into it. Act like you were getting out of someone's way, or you dropped a book and had to step into the defense stacks to get it."

"Ok..." he trailed off, standing up with a frown.

"It's an experiment," Harry said. Together they moved into the center of the library where there was a large empty space filled with desks for students to sit at. It was the library's hub. Harry, Ron and Hermione hung back at the edge of the herbology section and acted like they were looking for a specific herbology book while they watched Neville cross the library to the defense section.

"Excuse me," they heard him say as he stepped out of a Ravenclaw girl's way and partially down into a defense aisle. Filch stuck his head around a corner from an aisle filled with books about cats and other magical pets, eyes on Neville. His hand moved to his pocket, but as soon as Neville stepped back out of the aisle, Filch's hand stilled, and he watched Neville until he crossed the library back into the herbology section. The caretaker disappeared into the pet section once again without a word.

"Well?" Neville asked.

They waved for him to follow and went back to the table Neville had left his things at.

"Come with us," Hermione said and Neville grabbed his books, his essay and his backpack and followed them back to the potions nook.

Hermione cast a privacy spell for the first time on their nook so any sound they said would be muffled beyond the little invisible bubble the spell had cast around their group.

"Umbridge has Filch watching the defense section. He has some sort of device that notifies him when someone goes into the defense section, and then he uses it to call her. She won't let us check out books without interrogating us first," Ron said.

"I did get a couple books but only after she questioned me for ten minutes each time. They were books Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had assigned," Harry told him.

"Why would she do that?" Neville asked, and they explained their theory to him that the Ministry didn't want them gearing up for a revolution of some sort.

"But- we need to learn to protect ourselves from You-Know-Who," Neville said. "Everyone's been saying it. People have been complaining all term."

"Yeah, but they must think Harry's lying," Ron said. "They think we're actually planning to fight the Ministry or something."

Neville moaned. "I'm too young for all of this political stuff," he said. "Gran's always going on and on about how incompetent the Ministry really is, and how they couldn't find an owl if it landed on their head and hooted at them. I don't want to think about the Ministry at all." He looked at Harry though and said, "We have to learn. What are we gonna do? Buy the books we need?"

Harry's eyes moved to the books on the shelves around them. "Let's do another experiment," he said. He led them back out of the nook and walked down the rows of shelves containing Potions books until he came to a section about potions that could be used in defensive situations. There was an entire book dedicated to potions that exploded when thrown or mixed together, several books about potions that could be used to poison people, and potions to counteract poisons, and books on potions that rendered people invisible or gave them other advantages in defensive situations.

He reached forward and pulled the book about explosive potions off the shelves and waited.

"What are you doing?" Neville asked.

"Waiting to see if Filch or Umbridge will show up," Hermione guessed, and Harry nodded. The library was big so they waited for five minutes. Ron pulled another defensive potion book off the shelf and still no one showed up.

"Transfiguration section," Harry directed, and they left the potions books where they'd found them and went to search out a book on defensive transfiguration. There were several of these books in the actual defense section, but there had to be more in the transfiguration section as well. There were, and they pulled several off the shelves and waited, but no one came to question them.

"Be right back," Ron said, and he moved off towards the charms section. He was back after only a couple of minutes.

"Defensive charms are a trap," he said. "Filch came right to me. Funny thing was he had his hand on the outside of his other pocket. I didn't even have a book in my hand yet and he came right over to me."

They went back to the potions nook and Hermione cast the privacy charm again.

"I'll definitely be sending away for some books then," Hermione said.

"What books do we actually need?" Neville asked. "I could ask Gran to send me some. She's got a whole room full of books at home."

Hermione pulled out a parchment and started making a list. They didn't know the names of books they needed, but they were able to come up with a list of types of spells they wanted to learn. She made a copy of the parchment with her wand and handed it to Neville, and made another copy for Ron, and one for Harry.

"I can send this to mum and dad too," Ron said. "We have some books but I don't know if we have books about any of this." They turned to Harry but didn't ask him to send his list off to anyone as he didn't have anyone to ask for help.

Ron and Neville left to go to the Owlery together and Harry got up to go back to the defensive potions section.

"Are you done studying in the library today?" Hermione asked.

"Not nearly," Harry told her. There was still an hour until curfew and he wanted to get a good look at all of the defensive potions books. If Umbridge questioned him about anything he was checking out from the potions section, he had a good excuse. He'd have to ask Neville later if he could find anything good from the herbology section they could use. One way or another they were going to find a way to learn what they needed to. The only other option Harry could think of was to ask a teacher to teach them, but Snape was always going on about how busy he was and how he didn't want to be bothered unless Harry had questions about his apprentice texts or apprenticeship. He supposed they could try to trick Umbridge into teaching them something real, but wasn't sure that was possible.

McGonagall found them after dinner and despite Umbridge's eyes on their little group, said, "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about this. The Headmaster received an owl a few days ago stating that Professor Umbridge has the Ministry's full support in any educational matters she deems important enough to step in on. "Be careful," she warned them, before stepping away, presumably to go back to her quarters for the night.

"We've still got the books," Ron said. They hadn't received any back in the mail yet, but Neville was confident his Gran would send them a few and Ron had hopes his mum could come up with a few as well. Hermione's would take longer to get there as they had to be ordered in and paid for from Flourish And Blotts. The next morning all three of them received notices written on pink parchment however. Instead of delivering books, the owls they'd used to send of letters to their parents days before dropped the pink parchments on their plates at breakfast, and Ron's owl Pig even pecked him on the finger, making him yelp and shake his hand.

"Hey! What was that for?" Ron asked Pig, but the owl only ruffled his feathers at him and Ron said, "Wait, why are your feathers all messed up? Look Hermione, some of his feathers are missing. What happened to you?"

"What's on the notice?" she said, just before a school owl dropped a pink paper on her plate as well. She picked it up and answered her own question by reading allowed, "As a new student dueling club has already been denied approval to form, any books you had coming in to use for the student dueling club are hereby banned. The letter you sent to Flourish And Blotts has been confiscated. You may write an appeal to have your letter returned, or appeal to Professor Delores Jane Umbridge in written form to have this decision overturned."

Ron growled. "Mine says they have the letter I sent to mum. Now I know what happened to Pig. Umbridge or Filch must have cast a spell to bring her back and grabbed her." He petted Pig's feathers and tried to pat them back down into place. "I'm sorry," he said to the little owl, who looked like he was enjoying the attention after being manhandled.

Neville got up a minute later from his spot a ways down the table and came to sit next to them, pink notice in hand. "Well?" he asked.

"Who's gonna tell Harry?" Hermione asked in return. He hadn't appeared for breakfast yet and they knew it was because he'd gone to the library instead. He'd been obsessing for the last two days on finding books in the potions section they could use, though he'd been smart and hadn't checked any of them out. Instead he'd left them on the shelves in the potions nook so they wouldn't be checked out by anyone else.

Thirty minutes later as they met up with Harry in the corridor outside the Defense classroom, Harry wasn't surprised by what they told him. "So she's checking our mail," Harry said. He felt justified by all the caution he'd taken over the past few weeks to make sure he was never overheard by her. It was more than just charms put up on certain sections of the library and mini-interrogations. They were being watched, or at least Harry and his friends were.

"Watch it Potter," Seamus said, pushing past him on his way into the Defense room, but a Hufflepuff called out from the hall after him, "Watch out, Potter's liable to make you disappear if he doesn't like you."

Back to the Hufflepuff Harry's eyes got a steely look to them as his friends watched his face.

"I'm gonna-" Ron started, taking a step towards the Hufflepuff, who was already down the hall.

Harry held his hand out to stop him and moved into the Defense classroom. He moved to sit up front again, as he had been for the past few weeks, this time right next to Draco, who sneered at him.

"Gawd," Draco drawled. "I'll never get the smell off of me after this."

Harry didn't even look at him. Instead his eyes were on the door leading into Umbridge's office behind the platform she taught from. When she came out and the class settled, he raised his hand.

"Yes Mr. Potter?" she asked sweetly.

"Maam, I've been reading that book you told me about and was wondering if you could tell us how to defend ourselves from vampires."

"My," she said, a glinty look coming into her eyes as well. "That's third year material. Do you need a refresher Mr. Potter?"

"The book was talking about vampiric draining. I have an interest in potions and I was wondering if you knew of any potions that a wizard could take that might make him taste unappetizing to a vampire."

"You have no need to worry about vampires Mr. Potter. The Ministry has long since stopped hordes of vampires from roaming the countryside. That is what aurors are for. They're there to protect you."

"Of course," Harry said. He spent the rest of the class raising his hand to ask her questions though, to the point that she hadn't been able to teach the class anything or assign them homework.

"What are you doing, writing a book?" Draco grouched at him as he got up to leave class an hour later.

Instead of leaving, Harry was willing to be late to Potions to stay and talk to her some more. "I'm sorry to monopolize your time maam," he said. "I know you're very busy. Is there any way I could come to your open office hours sometime to ask the rest of my questions?"

"The rest of them?" she asked, her voice sounding wary for the first time since he'd met her.

"Yes maam. I know the aurors will protect us if we ever run into a vampire, but I'd really like to know about any potions I might be able to use against one. There must be some sort of potion to alter a wizard's blood, right? Something that would make a vampire not want to eat us? It could be a real help to the aurors at the Ministry if a potions master came up with something like that wouldn't it?"

The next class was coming in to sit down, a second year class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but Harry showed no sign of budging until all of his questions were answered.

"I'm in my office for one hour after dinner each night Mr. Potter, from six to seven pm."

"Yes maam, I'll be by tonight if it's not too much of a bother."

"Make your way to your next class Mr. Potter," she told him, looking thoroughly tired of him now.

"Yes maam. See you tonight."

Harry left and hurried down through the now empty corridors to Potions. The class had already started and Snape wasn't pleased, though he didn't say anything to Harry as he came in and sat down.

"My office after class," he told Harry a few minutes later as Harry hurried to prepare ingredients for a new potion they had been trying to master for several days but no one had managed yet.

"Yes sir."

When Snape had walked away Ron leaned in and whispered, "What was that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hermione's never asked so many questions before."

"Hermione's never had a reason to distract a professor before," Harry whispered, before returning his full attention to his potion.

After class his friends left without him to go to lunch, and Harry followed Snape to his office. After the door was closed Snape sneered at him. Harry was surprised he hadn't called him out right there in front of the class.

"You were late. Explain yourself."

"I was with Professor Umbridge."

"You were in trouble?" Snape said, hands tightening on the back of his chair as he stood there behind his desk.

"No sir, I was asking her questions. I'm going to go to her office after dinner for her open office hours."

The man narrowed his eyes. "I do not know what you are doing Potter, but you're playing a dangerous game."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about sir," Harry said, trying to act innocent. "I've been reading a book she recommended and-" Snape held up his hand to stop him.

"I will not be able to protect you if you are planning something stupid. You are to cease whatever foolish plans you have in place. I still have control over your detentions, but the Ministry has given Umbridge more control than she should have as mere staff. Pushing her will only make things worse for everyone. I will be very displeased if you push her far enough to make things miserable for me."

"I wouldn't do that sir," Harry said.

Snape looked like he didn't believe a word Harry had said, but finally waved him away so he could catch up to his friends at lunch.

Harry couldn't convince her to teach them defense, and he couldn't figure out a way to get books so they could teach themselves. What he could do was distract her so much that his friends could take some books from the library, or get together to practice defense after dinner each night. If he was in her office pestering her she'd be unable to race away to the library when Filch called her, or at the very least she might grow so tired of Harry that she might decide to ignore him and his friends altogether. It was straight out of Rebellion Rising. If he acted as though he respected her and wanted her opinion on everything... if he acted the model student bent on cooperating with her, she might not suspect what was really going on. He could only hope it would work. It was a dangerous game... maybe, but it was one Umbridge and Voldemort had inadvertently conspired to make him play.

* * *

"Maam?" Harry knocked on Umbridge's open office door and she looked unhappy to see him, despite the fake smile on her face.

"Come in Mr. Potter."

He had the book Rebellion Rising in his hand and his Ministry issued defense textbook under his arm along with a notebook and Muggle pen. He sat down in the student chair and opened his notebook, ready to take notes. She watched warily as he opened up Rebellion Rising and noted that he had pages of notes tucked into that as well.

"I was hoping you could tell me more about the measures the Ministry has taken against vampire clans," he said. "We learned in third year that there were vampire clans, and about vampire sires and their ‘children', but not much more than that. How does the Ministry know there aren't secret vampire clans out there holding people hostage today? How does the Ministry keep track of vampires? They do keep track of them, don't they? Are they required to register, or do the aurors just keep tabs on them?"

She held up her hand to stop him from continuing on with his questions. He'd been saying them all in a hurry as though he was excited to get to the answers. "One question at a time Mr. Potter."

He started over again with the first question and as she answered and he took notes (slowly), he let his eyes wander around the disgustingly pink office. It was so different from when he'd spent time here with Remus learning to cast a patronus. There were pink decorations around the room, frilly lace curtains, and plates featuring mewling kittens in white and gray across the walls. There was also a little round kitten brooch on her desk that occasionally vibrated, though she was too distracted by answering Harry's questions to notice.

"Maam?" he asked.

"Yes Mr. Potter?"

"Your little kitten button on the desk keeps vibrating."

"Pay it no mind. If it was a real emergency it would meow to let me know."

"Yes maam. Is it for Ministry emergencies? You must have to deal with that a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"You must be really important to the Minister for him to send you here to make sure we're getting the best defense education we can."

She didn't answer him and he continued. "We've had such a bad run of luck with previous defense teachers. I'm glad you're gonna be the one to stay. At least our education will be consistent for the next few years. I'm learning more from you tonight about vampires and vampiric draining than I have about most defense subjects in the last four years." He paused and consulted his notes where he'd written more than twenty questions. "Speaking of," he said, "have you given any more thought to potions to combat vampires?"

The cat brooch began to mewl, but stopped abruptly. She looked down at it, as if waiting for it to meow again, but it didn't, and she returned her attention to Harry.

"Why so curious about potions regarding vampires?" she asked in a light voice.

Harry was ready with an answer as he'd been thinking about it all day. "If I'm to continue into a second and then a third apprenticeship so I can become a potions master, I have to make a name for myself. I've been giving it a lot of thought and I've decided I want to invent potions that help the Ministry protect people from dangerous creatures like vampires and werewolves. I've asked and I don't know of any other potions masters or apprentices doing that right now, so there's a spot open for me to fill that gap. Master Snape's thing is teaching and mushrooms. He supplies several species to apothecaries across the aisles." Harry went on and on about what he knew of other specialities other apprentices and potion masters were into until she stopped him and told him her office hour was up.

"You'd better return to your dorms for the evening Mr. Potter, I have no more time for questions tonight."

"Yes maam," he said, standing abruptly. "Do you have an office hour after dinner every night?"

"Mr. Potter," she snapped, but then took a breath and said, "Yes. Please confine your questions to Defense should you decide to come back to see me again."

"Yes maam. I have so many questions to ask." He bade her goodnight and left, grin on his face. Ron and Hermione weren't in the library tonight trying to find defense books, but Harry had made up his mind. If he established himself as a pest now, then she might not notice anything amiss when he showed up at a later time when they really needed to distract her.

* * *

Harry tried to ask her more questions about vampires in class on Wednesday morning, but she put a stop to it right away. "No questions about anything other than the subject we are discussing this morning," she told the class, and Harry put his hand down. She smiled and continued on with the lecture, but Harry came to her office again that night, two dozen more questions about vampires written down.

She slogged through each and every question, but not before the end of the hour was up, and looked thoroughly exhausted. "Perhaps you should return Rebellion Rising to the library Mr. Potter," she told him. "You seem to have had it checked out for several weeks now. Someone else may want to look through it." He told her he would return it, and made it a point to take it to the library the next evening after classes. As soon as he'd given it back to Madam Pince, he went straight to the defense section, where Filch followed him from row to row until he stopped in the section about vampires. Umbridge showed up a few minutes later as he knew she would.

"Looking into books on vampires," Filch whispered conspicuously, holding his hand up to shield his mouth from Harry, though Harry heard him anyway.

Umridge stepped forward and Harry looked as innocent as he could. "Mr. Potter, surely not more books about vampires."

"I'm sorry, it's just, you seemed to be getting a little tired of me asking questions, and I need to do research so I can start researching potions bases that might be used as the start to future potions I could develop to ward vampires off."

She held out her hands to look at the books Harry had and he held them out to her. She opened one to look through the table of contents and then handed it back to him. "These are fine Mr. Potter."

"Thank you. If you seem to think these are the best ones, I'll be sure to check these out. Is it ok if I have a look for a few more minutes?"

She held in a sigh and gave a nod. Harry took his sweet time browsing the titles on vampires. There were more than forty to look through just in this section. While Harry was looking and Filch and Umbridge were talking to each other in low tones, Harry hoped Hermione was finding a good book on shields ten or more rows behind them. Filch couldn't alert Umbridge to more students in this section if he was busy talking to Umbridge and watching Harry.

"What about this one Professor?" Harry asked her, holding one out. "Do you think this one has the information I need?" He handed it up to her without looking up at her as he pretended to look for another book. It appeared she had had enough when he took a seat on the floor, legs criss crossed as though he was planning on settling in for a while.

"Mr. Potter, what you have will be fine. It's beyond my office hours and I must retire to grade homework. Please move along to check out the books you have."

"Oh, of course. I know as soon as I finish with these I can come back to get more. I need to go to the potions section to look for books on bases with garlic anyhow."

Filch escorted Harry to the front of the library where Harry checked out the four books Umbridge had ‘approved', and then Filch quickly made his way back to the defense section. Harry wondered how the man had time to do his job when Umbridge had him busy in the library every evening.

After checking his books out, Harry headed into the potions stacks and pretended for twenty minutes to be finding a good book, which he also took and checked out just so Umbridge would be satisfied if she checked for his name on the book checkout sheet, as he knew she would.

Back in the common room Harry found Hermione and Ron in a corner with Neville and Ginny. "Well?" he asked.

"I picked up Evading Hexes and Shielding The Unshielded and stowed them under the the cushions in the potions nook. I couldn't check them out of course or she'd know I had them."

"We can take notes on them in the nook and take the notes back to the common room to practice," Ron said. "Hermione's got a nifty spell that duplicates pages so we won't even have to write anything down."

"Where are we gonna practice though?" Neville asked. His eyes drifted around the common room. It was big, but not big enough to practice dueling, especially not when it was filled with almost 70 kids.

"We'll have to find a place," Harry said. "Maybe out on the grounds."

"I'll look through Hogwarts A History," Hermione said. It was her answer for everything, and though it used to annoy him, Harry adored her for it. It was one of her quirks that was predictable and made Harry glad Ron and Hermione were his friends.

* * *

Ron and Harry had spent an hour copying pages out of the books Hermione had taken from the defense section, and then Hermione had taken the books out of the nook so they wouldn't get caught with them if Umbridge ever did figure out where they'd been spending time. Harry didn't know where Hermione had taken the books to, but she hadn't returned them to the defense section.

"Here," Harry said, holding out his hand for the pages Ron had copied. Harry took them and put them in his bag. They'd be able to keep them in Gryffindor safely and study them there. Hermione had taken it as a personal offense that they were in a place of learning but were not allowed to learn what they wanted.

It was the day after Harry and Ron had taken the newly copied pages of the defense books to their dorms that Umbridge became aware that there were two books missing from the defense section of the library. Harry wasn't sure how she knew but could only guess she had been taking stock of the books regularly somehow, or had another spell up on the defense section that they weren't aware of. There were over a thousand books on defense in that section alone, so Harry didn't think the woman would be in there counting them one by one each night to see what was missing.

"Mr. Potter." He turned and smiled as she called to him from down the corridor on his way back to Gryffindor tower Friday evening.

"Yes maam? Do you have time to talk some more about vampires?"

She gave him a cross look, the first that Harry had seen from her.

"I'm afraid I must check your bag for contraband Mr. Potter."

Harry took his bag off and held it out to her. "Contraband maam?"

"It seems some items that you are not supposed to have have gone missing."

"What's gone missing?" Harry asked as she unzipped the bag and lit up the tip of her wand to look inside.

"Books Mr. Potter."

"What kinds of books? Books about vampires?"

She ignored him and emptied the bag, using her wand to send each item into the air where it could hover for her to examine. She opened the second smaller pocket as well, but all that was in there were quills, Muggle pens, sticky notes, a highlighter, and a mostly empty bottle of black ink.

"What is this?" she asked, pulling one of the books from the air.

"One of my apprentice books," Harry said, but before he could finish she had already released it back into the air to hover.

"And this?"

"That's one of the vampire books you said I should read for my research." She looked at the cover closely, opened it up, shook it to see if any extra pieces of parchment would fall out, and then released it back into the air again.

"It seems odd to me Mr. Potter, that the very night I was speaking to you in the defense stacks that two books would go missing from the defense section."

"Oh no," Harry said, trying to sound horrified. "Madam Pince must be upset. People are supposed to check things out. You mean someone just took them?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and waved her wand to cancel the spell, sending all of the items from the air back into the main pocket of his bag in a jumbled mess.

"Where are your friends Mr. Potter?"

"Still at dinner I think. I was going to the library to return this book because it doesn't have the information I need. They were going to meet me when they were done."

She said, "Follow me," and took off at a fast clip back towards the Great Hall. In the Entrance Hall Harry caught sight of Snape, who didn't look pleased to see her stalking through the castle with Harry in tow. They ran into Ron and Hermione just as they came out of the Great Hall.

"Your bag if you would please Mr. Weasley. Miss Granger," she said, holding out her hand.

Ron and Hermione held their bags out to her and she used the same spell as a minute before to send the contents of each of their bags into the air. Ron had several pieces of trash in his bag, including crumpled up homework that had been returned to him with poor grades. Umbridge unfolded each of those parchment balls and looked over them closely before waving them away. She went on to Hermione's bag which had a lot more books than Ron and Harry's usually did, and shook each of them out to be sure there was nothing in there that shouldn't be before sending the items back into each of their bags.

"Erm, is everything ok?" Ron asked her when she thrust his bag back out to him.

"It is not Mr. Weasley. I certainly hope you had nothing to do with the books that went missing earlier this week from the library."

"What kind of books?" Ron asked, looking bewildered just as Harry had a few minutes before. The only books Ron ever checked out were Quidditch books, and he had one in his bag right now, though Umbridge hadn't been interested in the book about Keeper tactics.

Finally Snape came over, or perhaps he'd been right behind Harry the entire time and Harry hadn't noticed. He'd been tense watching her search his friends bags. They'd been passing the copied pages around the last few days and he wasn't sure if they'd taken any out of the dorms.

"Is something wrong?" Snape asked. His hand came down on Harry's shoulder and Harry stiffened as it squeezed in an uncomfortable way. Snape was definitely pissed like he'd warned Harry that he would be.

"We shall see," Umbridge said, and she stalked off into the Great Hall where the headmaster and some of the other teachers were still finishing up their dinner.

Snape removed his hand and Harry turned around.

"What was that about?"

"She thought we'd stolen some books."

"Did you?"

"No sir," Hermione said.

"You will refrain from answering for Potter, Miss Granger," Snape said angrily.

"I didn't steal anything," Harry said. "She looked through my bag and didn't find anything."

"Return to your common room." He watched the trio of Gryffindors go with narrowed eyes.

When they were back in the common room Ron flopped onto the couch and said, "How did she know they were gone?"

"I'd like to know as well," Hermione said. She had just settled down on the couch next to Ron when the portrait opened and Professor McGonagall came in behind Umbridge. Umbridge looked angry and McGonagall irritated.

"Miss Granger, would you please show us to your dorm. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, you are to stay in the common room."

Confused, Hermione took her bag and went up the girls staircase to the girls dorms.

"They're searching the dorms?" Ron asked.

"Do you have any of the papers?"

"Yeah, half of them. I took them back from Hermione this morning."

"Go up there and burn them, or stick them in my trunk," Harry said, and Ron raced off up the boys stairs. He was back moments before Umbridge, McGonagall and Hermione came back down from the fifth year girls dormitory.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, follow me," McGonagall said, and she led the way up to their dorm this time.

"Which trunk is yours?" Umbridge asked Ron, and Ron pointed. She opened the lid and rifled through it for a moment, did a spell that lifted his mattress to look under there, and then shined a light under his bed, but there was nothing. "Your wardrobe?" she asked, and Ron pointed to the one he shared with Harry.

There were coats, robes and Quidditch robes hanging on the bar, and shirts and pants folded along the bottom shelf and in the two drawers underneath, but nothing else.

"The desk?" she asked.

Harry pointed and said, "We share that one under the window."

She also searched through Harry's trunk, his potions trunk, and under his mattress and bed. When she'd found nothing she went to Neville's trunk and desk and bed and searched there. Harry didn't know what Ron had done with the forty papers but hoped she wouldn't find them.

"Accio Evading Hexes and Shielding The Unshielded," she said. Nothing happened for several long moments, but after almost a full minute there was a strange whooshing and flapping noise. They turned and found several of the copied papers plastered to the outside of the window above Ron and Harry's desk. Ron had opened the window and thrown them out. Umbridge sent the window open with a spell and the forty pages, some of them wet now from where they'd landed outside at the base of the tower, came flying in, landing in a disheveled stack on the desk.

She looked smug. "What have we here?" she asked.

Ron and Harry didn't look at each other. Instead, Harry was watching McGonagall, whose lips were pursed in a thin line.

"Really Delores?" she asked. "You're upset that one of our students has a desire to learn above and beyond what's being taught in class?"

"Above and beyond?" she asked. She took Harry's bag from him and pulled out the vampire book. "This is above and beyond," she said. Then she grabbed the stack of copied pages and said, "These are dueling spells. I've already banned any future student clubs, the proposed dueling club in particular. The only reason for them to have these spells is if they've started an illegal dueling club without permission and without teacher supervision."

McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron, gave them a look Harry couldn't decipher and asked, "Are these yours?" She indicated the stack of papers now being crumpled in Umbridge's pudgy fist.

"No maam," Harry said. McGonagall looked as though she approved of his answer, but then Harry continued. "They're not ours, they're mine. Ron didn't know I had them. When you came up here after searching our bags and went to Hermione's dorm I came up here and threw them out the window."

Umbridge looked smug. "So you do have an illegal student dueling club?" she said.

"No maam," Harry said. "That would be dangerous. Ron and Hermione are Prefects... they'd never stand for something like that."

"Then why do you have them?" McGonagall asked.

"Do not say vampires," Umbridge warned him.

Harry shrugged. He really didn't know what to say. "I just wanted to learn. I want to know how to defend myself."

"Against?" Umbridge asked, but Harry didn't say anything for long moments.

"You said I couldn't say vampires," he finally said.

"Detention Mr. Potter. Several I'm afraid."

McGonagall cleared her throat and said, "With Professor Snape."

"Yes yes," Umbridge said, irritated with the Headmistress. "I'm aware of the rules regarding apprentices." She gave Harry a hard look and said, "I don't believe a week of detentions will be enough to deter this kind of behavior from happening again. The fact that the books went missing the night I spoke to him in the library makes me believe he was deceiving me from the beginning and took the books somehow right then." Her eyes roved around the room until they fell on the open wardrobe and Harry's Quidditch robes. "A ban from Quidditch should be sufficient. Let this be a lesson to you Mr. Potter." She narrowed her eyes at him but then stood up straight as if pulling herself together and gave him a little smile as she tilted her head. "Deception will get you nowhere. I'll be keeping both eyes on you from now on to ensure you keep yourself out of trouble like this in the future." She turned on her heel and stalked out of the room with the copied papers.

McGonagall waved up a privacy spell on the room and leveled both boys with a look. Then she sighed and said, "There's nothing I can do I'm afraid. Learning is not against the rules. I refuse to be upset with you for wanting to learn what every student should be allowed to. I am however upset with the carelessness you've shown, especially since you were warned Harry." She turned her eyes to Ron and said, "Be thankful you have such a good friend Mr. Weasley. She would have had your Prefect badge over this and Hermione's as well."

She let the privacy ward fall and left them there. A moment later the rest of the boys in their dorm came up the stairs.

"What's going on?" Dean asked, seeing all of their trunks and wardrobes open along with their desk drawers.

"Professor Umbridge searched the dorms as well as our bags," Ron said, flopping onto his bed.

"And?" Neville asked.

"Harry has detention and is banned from Quidditch for the rest of the year."

"What did you have Potter?" Seamus asked, curious but angry like he always was towards Harry now.

"Books," Harry said. "On shields and counter hexes."

"Damn," Dean said.

"Relax," Ron told him. "No one else is in trouble, only Harry. He took the blame."

"The blame for what he did you mean," Seamus snapped. "Don't make it sound like he did something here to be proud of."

Harry wanted to close his eyes and block them all out. He was wishing he had a time turner again. The best he could hope to do was go to bed and pass out, though his mind was racing a million miles a minute. Before he could attempt to go to sleep or even get into his bed, another person appeared in the doorframe to the dorm.

"Potter."

All of the boys stiffened at the Slytherin Head's presence. They'd never seen him in Gryffindor tower before. Harry turned, tense, unwilling to take in a breath. Snape curled his finger, motioning for Harry to come with him, and Harry followed him out. This was the moment he'd been waiting for since his uncle and Snape had conspired against him to force him into this apprenticeship. He'd seen Snape angry more times than he could count, but this was the moment the man was going to throttle him for the first time. He'd told Harry there were consequences, and now he was going to find out just what that would be. As they made their way silently down through the castle to the Dungeons, passing Umbridge, who looked gleeful to see that Snape had already collected him for his punishment, Harry kept looking at Snape's bony knuckles. He only hoped the man wouldn't punish him for too long. His uncle usually hit him a few times and then left him alone.

Snape didn't take Harry to his office, which worried him. Instead he took him to the fifth year potions classroom, waved up the lights, and shut and locked the door, warding it against eavesdroppers like McGonagall had done up in the dorms twenty minutes before. He turned on his heel to start hitting Harry but Harry had thrown his arms up over his face and thrown himself backwards a step and into the wall. Something was wrong though because Snape hadn't started hitting him yet. What was the man doing, looking for a stick to hit him with instead?

Harry stayed where he was, arms up in front of his face, eyes clenched shut, and breathed heavily for long moments. Finally he lowered one arm just enough to peek out and see what exactly Snape had come up with to hit him with. The man was only standing there a few feet from him, black eyes staring at him. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Harry lowered his arms slowly, still shaking, eyes not leaving Snape in case it was a trick to get him to let his guard down.

Snape pointed at a chair, the one Goyle usually sat in during class time, and Harry moved slowly to take a seat. Snape didn't move from his spot. After several tense quiet moments Snape asked, "Why did you do that?"

"I didn't steal any books," Harry said, but Snape waved his hand to get him to stop, and Harry flinched again.

"Why did you act like I was going to murder you?"

Harry gripped and ungripped his fists. Murder? The man had murder on his mind?

"I thought-" Harry didn't know what to tell him. Uncle Vernon always throttles me. "I dunno," Harry said instead.

"When have I ever even threatened to do you harm?" Snape asked, voice cold.

"You haven't."

The man gave Harry a tired look, turned from him and took a few steps towards the blackboard, and then turned back to him, voice hardening again. "I warned you you were playing a dangerous game. Now she will be watching you even more closely than before. Was it worth it?"

Harry shrugged. "She took Quidditch from me."

"I am aware," he spat, making Harry jump. Severus huffed and straightened up, aware he was still frightening him. The brat. He didn't know Severus had been a death eater, yet he acted like he was going to hex him and hide his body. Weasley had probably told him. Arthur Weasley had been an Order member years ago and worked for the Ministry, and had likely told his children of Severus' past. Now that they knew Harry was his ward... his apprentice, they must have told him. There was only one way to become a Death Eater. You had to kill to prove your loyalty. Severus had not killed anyone, but the information he'd given Voldemort about the prophecy had been the deciding factor in Voldemort killing Harry's parents. Lily and James Potter's deaths... Harry's very orphanness hung over his head as if he'd murdered them in cold blood himself. His eyes came back up to Potter, who seemed to have calmed himself down some now.

"What is the offense you are accused of?"

"Studying defense from books in the defense section of the library."

"Which books?" he asked.

"Evading Hexes and Shielding The Unshielded."

Severus scoffed and shook his head. The two books were barely worth studying. They held little more information than students usually learned in their seven years at school.

"She thinks I was planning an illegal student dueling club."

"Were you?"

Harry didn't know why he was willing to tell him the truth. Maybe it was because he hadn't been throttled yet and hoped telling the truth would keep it that way. Maybe not. "Yes."

"Fool. You've been warned again and again. You don't know what's good for you." He turned back to Harry, who was looking at the workbench in front of him. "And your friends? What were their punishments for taking part in this? I know you didn't sneak books out of the library on your own."

"Nothing," Harry said.

"You were punished but they were not?"

"I didn't want them to lose their Prefects badges. I told her it was all me and that if they had known they wouldn't have taken part in it."

Severus drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He let the privacy ward fall and unlocked the door and left. Harry hadn't been told to stay put, but he hadn't been told he could leave yet either, so he stayed there. Severus came back a few minutes later and dropped the two books Harry and his friends had copied pages out of in front of him. They weren't library copies. Harry knew they couldn't be because they had writing inside and some of the text was highlighted.

"You are supposed to be studying potions, not plotting to dig a hole you can't get yourself out of trying to study defense."

Harry stared at the books, not willing to look up at Snape.

"You have five days worth of after dinner detentions Potter. Use the time to fill your head with shields and counter hexes, or don't. You will not be sneaking books out of the library again."

"I'm banned from the library?"

"You are not. If you pull such a dunderheaded stunt again however, I will ensure you spend each and every detention you are assigned pickling toad brains."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and finally decided to ask anyway. "You're letting me read the banned books?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Minerva would have my head if I punished a student for wanting to learn. Albus would join her in taking it from me. If Umbridge asks you scrubbed floors on your hands and knees for over an hour. You will use the sink to get the knees of your pants wet before you leave tonight to make it look as though you have done a proper detention."

Snape left Harry to his thoughts for a few minutes and returned with student essays that needed to be graded, and a potions journal he ended up reading while Harry stared at the pages of Shielding The Unshielded. It was awkward being in a fake detention with the man. It was awkward to sit and read while Snape sat at the front of the room at the teacher's desk and read. It was awkward the more Harry thought about how he'd reacted by throwing his arms up in front of himself to defend himself from blows that were never going to come. What must the man have thought about him? Harry didn't know, and he couldn't read from the books for the next hour.

When an hour had passed, Harry went to the sink and splashed water on his knees and Snape waved him away. "Make it believable Potter."

"Yes sir."

Umbridge wasn't waiting for him in the dungeons, or anywhere on his way to the dorms. He did pass Filch however, who grinned at Harry, showing several missing and crooked teeth.

Back in the common room Hermione and Ron asked him what had happened. "I was supposed to be scrubbing the floors for an hour," he said.

"You were supposed to be?" Hermione asked. "What were you doing instead?"

Looking confused, Harry said quietly, "Reading Shielding The Unshielded."

Ron grabbed Harry's sleeve and pulled him further into the corner of the common room where fewer people could hear them. "Are you kidding me?" he demanded in a whisper. "McGonagall gave you the books anyway?"

"I dunno," Harry said. "I didn't see her. Snape just brought them to me and told me I had a week of detentions to read them and that I was wasting time because I should have been studying potions instead. He said... McGonagall and Dumbledore would be mad if I was punished for wanting to learn."

Ron and Hermione shared a look and Ron said, "If he's gonna give you the books we want... maybe I'll start going to Potions lab every Saturday."

Harry frowned and looked up. "If you think he's gonna let you read that when you haven't mastered all the potions on the list, you've gone mad."

"He's right," Hermione said.

Ron shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to try."

"Tell us again what happened?" George asked, leaning over his plate of pancakes.

"Umbridge happened," Ron grouched.

"And Harry saved your neck," Fred put in. "If he hadn't taken the fall you would have been kicked off the team too."

Ron opened his mouth to argue with his brothers but Angelina cut in. "The fact remains Harry can't play for the rest of the year and we need a new Seeker."

"Ginny plays," Fred put in. "She prefers Chaser but she's not half bad as Seeker."

"That's right," George said.

"I can play," Cormac said, puffing his chest up.

"Forget it," Angelina told him. "You're our backup player for anyone who can't finish a match, not to mention you're too big to play Seeker. Ginny would be small enough." She turned to Harry and said, "What do you think Harry?"

Harry nodded, wishing they weren't having this conversation at all. Quidditch was one of the few things he was good at, and he agreed with Ron that this was cruel and unusual punishment. "I'd like to see Ginny have the spot," Harry said. "But I'd like the spot back next year if I'm not banned from Quidditch then too."

"Don't forget Umbridge won't be here next year," Fred said. "The Defense position is cursed."

"Let's just focus on the rest of this year first," Angelina said. "Maybe Harry will get lucky and be unbanned before the end of the school year."

Harry had never felt particularly lucky or unlucky, but thought it would be nice to have a stroke of good luck when it came to getting his spot on the Quidditch team back. George left their little group at the far end of Gryffindor table and went down the table to get Ginny. She came back with him a minute later, and the switch up in Seekers was proposed to her.

"Are you ok with this Harry?" she asked him.

"If someone's going to have my spot it should be you," he said. Harry agreed with Fred and George. He'd seen Ginny play and she was pretty good. She probably would have already been on the team if there had been spots open for her to fill. Now there was one, and she should have it.

Her cheeks turned red and she took a seat with the team to work out the details.

"Harry," Ron said later that day as they made their way to Care of Magical Creatures, "since you're not playing right now, do you think I could use your broom?" He was biting his lip like he knew it was futile to ask.

"Take it," Harry said, feeling down about the whole situation. He wouldn't deny his friend a chance to use his Firebolt, not after all the items of clothing, school supplies and books Ron had lent to him over the years.

"Yes," Ron said happily. "I was worried you'd say you'd already promised it to Ginny."

"To Ginny..." Harry said with a frown. "Why would I do that?"

Ron raised his brows at him and Hermione sighed behind them as they made Hagrid's cabin. "Well, you just told the whole Quidditch team you'd rather she have your spot than anyone else."

"Because she deserves it," Harry said.

"Sure," Ron said with a grin, though Harry wasn't sure why he sounded like he didn't believe him.

Hermione looked as though she wanted to say something to Harry, but she sucked in a deep breath instead when she caught sight of what was waiting for them out in front of Hagrid's cabin. Hagrid was with a gleaming white pegasus. The creature pawed at the ground and shook out its long mane, white hair sparkling in the late autumn sunlight.

"Hagrid, he's gorgeous!" she said, hurrying over. As more girls made it down from the castle, they all crowded around Hagrid and the winged horse. Harry for his part thought the creature was handsome, but none of the boys were willing to crowd around it to gush about how pretty it was like the girls were.

"Aren't pegasuses supposed to be good luck?" Ron asked.

"Very good Ron," Hagrid boomed from where he'd just extricated himself from the crowd of Gryfifndor and Slytherin 5th year girls. "Just ter see one is supposed ter bring good luck fer an entire year."

Ron nudged Harry. "Look at the pegasus," Ron urged him, "make your luck change."

Harry gave him a doubtful look. "To do that I'd have to get rid of Umbridge and Snape or get hold of a time turner."

"Isn't there a potion for luck?" Ron asked. "My aunt won a single sip of a potion like that in a dueling tournament once and won a hundred galleons the moment after she had a sip."

Harry mumbled and Ron said, "What was that?"

"I'll have to look it up," he said. He'd have to ask Snape and he wasn't too keen on doing that. He was still embarrassed about trying to shield his face from the man the night before. Whether he wanted to see him or not, Harry was going to have to see Snape for the next four nights since he was supposed to be having detention with the man.

After their double class with Hagrid they went up to the castle for dinner, but Harry found Umbridge waiting for him in the Entrance Hall. "Your bag if you would please Mr. Potter."

Harry gave his friends a worried look and handed his bag over to her. He didn't have anything with him to worry about, but it was odd for her to be searching him again the day after she'd found the copied book pages.

Satisfied that Harry didn't have any contraband after looking through it for a few moments, she handed his bag back to him and went into the Great Hall without a word.

Hoping to get Harry's mind off of Umbridge and his loss of Quidditch privileges, Hermione asked, "Are we studying tonight after your detention? There's a test in Transfiguration tomorrow and it's a good opportunity to review some of the things on the OWL list as well."

"Sure," Harry said, resisting the urge to glare up at the head table at the toad faced woman dressed all in pink.

It appeared Umbridge wasn't quite done with him that day though. After he was done with his detention with Snape at seven, Umbridge caught up with him somewhere in the Charms corridor and trailed him up to the library and to the potions nook. Harry and his friends had just had a seat and began to pull out their Transfiguration notes when Umbridge and Filch appeared around the corner.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, if you'd please stand up and leave your things there."

"Maam?" Ron asked.

"Now Mr. Weasley. This need only take a few minutes."

Sharing a look again as they had earlier when she'd searched Harry's bag, they stood up and left the nook, standing just outside. Filch and Umbridge went in and began lifting up the cream colored cushions from the benches, and checking the bookshelves for any books that weren't potions related. Finally Umbridge used her wand to accio any loose papers to her, but the only papers that came to her were pages willed with Transfiguration notes from the table. She rifled through them for a few moments before setting them back down.

"I'm so thankful to see you're not hiding contraband here," she said directly to Harry. She seemed to have zeroed in on him now and had no interest in Ron or Hermione like she had the night before. "If I had found something here I would have had to ban you from the library, and that would be a dreadful thing to have to do during an OWL year."

"I don't have anything to hide though," Harry said.

"Good," she said. "It's my goal to ensure it stays that way." She tilted her head, gave him a little smile and then she and Filch left, striding off through the potions stacks.

Harry was ready to leave his bag and books there and just go back to the dorms, done with her and with the library altogether, but Hermione put her hand on his wrist to stop him. "Don't," she said. "This is our spot. You have every right to be here."

He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes and held it, and then let it go. All thoughts of playing the game he had been with her for the last few weeks had vanished. He felt like he was playing defense right now and couldn't go on the offensive. He couldn't put on a fake smile and pretend he respected her when she'd stolen Quidditch and the right to learn defense from him.

They sat down in the nook again and Ron said, "So what's the plan?"

Harry pointed at Hermione's transfiguration notes. "Study."

"I mean-"

"There's no plan Ron," Harry said shortly. Then he sent Ron an apologetic look and rubbed his forehead. "Can we just study tonight so I can pass the Transfiguration test tomorrow?"

They studied until it was almost curfew and Harry was glad for it the next day when he took his Transfiguration test and felt like he'd done well on it.

After dinner Thursday Ginny asked him if he was going to come to the Quidditch Pitch to see her first practice, and he agreed. Hermione went with him, though when they got there and sat up in the Gryffindor stands, Harry was dismayed to find Umbridge sitting in the Gryffindor stands with them.

"Harry," Hermione said, touching his wrist. She nodded her head sideways a little and Harry leaned around her and looked. Umbridge was watching them and gave a little smile and waved as though Harry would be happy to see her.

"Ugh," Harry groaned and forced his eyes back to the practice, where Ginny was chasing after the Snitch and Ron had just failed to stop the Quaffle from going through the top ring.

"This isn't fair," he said.

"No, it's not," Hermione agreed.

Harry was only able to stay for half an hour because he had detention with Snape, so Hermione went back to the castle with him, Umbridge not far behind them. Harry wasn't sure why Umbridge had followed them out to the Pitch, and hoped it was just because she was wanting some fresh air and was curious about what a Quidditch practice looked like. His luck wasn't that good though. She followed him down into the dungeons and to the door of the potions classroom.

"Erm, is there something I can help you with?" Harry asked as he turned and found her right behind him.

"Just ensuring you end up where you're supposed to be," she said with a smile. "It's so important that you learn your lesson and do all the detentions assigned to you. Shouldn't you be meeting Professor Snape at his office?"

In answer to her question the classroom door swung open and Snape snapped, "In Potter, before you're late! Gather all the supplies to scrub cauldrons and go to potions classroom A. There was an incident in the first year potions class today."

Harry went around him into the room and over to the cleaning cupboard inside where mops, buckets, and scrub brushes were kept so students could clean up messes they made or clean out their cauldrons. As he was gathering supplies Snape turned to Umbridge and said, "Good evening. Is there something you needed from me?"

"Oh no Severus, I think you're doing a wonderful job. I just came to ensure Harry made it to detention on time."

He turned and looked at Harry, a sneer on his face, lip curled, and then turned back to Umbridge. "He knows better than to be late to one of my detentions."

"Yes of course, I've heard what a wonderful disciplinarian you are from Minerva."

Harry came over to them with a wooden bucket, two scrub brushes, several rags and a bottle of cleaning liquid that was approved for cleaning up tough potions spills and waited patiently.

"Get on with it Potter," Snape snapped. "Classroom A is unlocked."

"Yes sir." He moved past them and out of sight down the corridor and around the corner. Harry hoped they wouldn't stand there and talk bad about him all night while he was scrubbing cauldrons.

He went into classroom A and emptied his bucket before filling it with water. He had just turned to search out the mess he was supposed to be cleaning up when Snape came in and shut the door, warding it behind him.

"Put that away," he snapped, and Harry frowned.

"There is no mess Potter. You've spent the last two detentions reading and should know better."

"Oh," he said, feeling foolish. He dumped the bucket of water out and looked around the classroom the first and second years usually used, deciding to take a seat by the door. He didn't have a defense book to read, or his apprentice texts. Snape didn't seem to have anything to keep himself occupied either, and Harry was surprised the man wasn't angry with him yet for making him waste time having to come and ‘supervise detention' for five nights.

"Where are you in your apprentice texts?" Snape asked a moment later, bringing Harry's attention back to him.

"Erm... do you mean what chapter in each?"

"Yes. What are you studying right now? What are you having difficulty understanding?"

Harry frowned, wishing he had his text books and notes in front of him. "I don't really have my stuff with me to answer that."

"What do you need?"

"My apprentice books are all in my potions trunk and some of my notes are in my backpack in the other classroom," he said.

Snape called for a house elf and a tiny elf named Tinky appeared.

"Please retrieve the five apprentice textbooks from the small black trunk in the fifth year Gryffindor boy's dormitory," he said, and the elf nodded and disappeared with a loud pop.

"Stay here Potter," Snape said, and left the classroom, locking the door behind him and locking Harry in. For once Harry didn't mind being locked in because it meant Umbridge was locked out while Snape was gone. The elf reappeared and set the apprentice books on Snape's desk.

"Is this all Master Snape is wantings?" the little elf asked.

"I think so, thank you," Harry said. She gave Harry a smile and apparated away. Harry took the books from the teacher's desk and went back to the student table he'd been sitting at. Snape came back a minute later with his bag, and surprised Harry by pulling a stool around to the other side of the student table so he could sit facing him.

Feeling awkward, Harry pulled his notes out along with his note cards on the 27 classes of potions and opened up each of the apprentice textbooks to where he'd last left off reading.

Snape observed where he was in each and then asked, "What is on the notecards?"

Harry pushed them across the table and said, "The 27 classes of potions. I have most of the classes memorized but not all of them yet. I figured after I memorized the classes I could add more details to the back of each card on potions bases."

"How many of them do you have memorized?" Snape asked.

"About 20."

"I will test you now to see," he said. Snape shuffled the note cards and then looked at the one on top. "Class 6 potions," he said.

"Chimaeric," Harry answered.

"Explain to me what you remember about Chimaeric potions."

Harry took a breath and let it out slowly. He'd just started to learn about them the week before.

"Chimaeric potions are two or more potions with different bases. Each base has their own properties, and then when you mix two potions with a chimaeric base together you get a chimaeric potion."

"Give me an example."

"An ice base potion mixed with a fire base potion."

"And the purpose of such a potion?"

Harry scratched the back of his neck. "I haven't read all of that chapter yet."

Snape set the card down.

"Class three," he said.

"Core diminishing potions," Harry said. "There's only one base for this class of potions, but there's seven known potions in class three. Four of them are medical potions to diminish a person's core if they've overdosed on a core strengthening potion or have had something go wrong that's made their core so full it could harm them. The other two potions are weapons."

Snape was about to turn the card over and move on to the next when he paused and looked up at Harry. "Weapons Potter?"

"Well, they could be used as weapons. One is a poison that diminishes a person's core so much it turns in on itself and sucks the person's soul out... like a Dementor. The other one takes a person's core all the way down to zero, basically making them a squib."

"Do not let anyone from the Ministry hear you talking of weaponizing potions. Umbridge would have aurors here to haul you off to the Ministry for questioning so fast you wouldn't have a chance to say goodbye to your friends."

Harry frowned. There were lots of books in the library about weaponized potions. Everything from tipping arrows with poison to potions that exploded and potions that tricked people into thinking they were someone they weren't.

"Yes sir." He didn't understand it, but he did understand that he didn't want to mess with Umbridge anymore at the moment.

"It is not illegal to weaponize potions," Snape said. "The Ministry has an entire department dedicated to potion experimentation to find new potions that can help aurors or catch criminals. However, with your current situation in the eyes of the Ministry and with Umbridge, it would be unwise for you to mention potions as weapons or as a tool for anything other than completing your apprenticeship at present. The last thing you need is for the Ministry to believe you're trying to find potions to use against the Minister of Magic."

"They wouldn't know if an owl landed on their head with poison claws," Harry mumbled, thinking about what Neville's gran often told her grandson.

"What was that?" Snape asked.

"I won't mention it again sir."

"See that you do not."

They made it through all 27 cards by the end of Harry's detention, though Harry had only managed to remember 17 of the classes.

"Bring your notes and apprentice books back tomorrow," Snape told him, and Harry nodded. Umbridge was waiting for him in the Entrance Hall, and though she didn't follow him, her creepy smile stayed with him all the way up to Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Harry had had enough of Umbridge and of Snape both by the time Saturday rolled around, and decided not to go to the Potions lab with his friends. Hermione agreed to help Ron and Neville that day instead and Harry hung back in the dorms. If he stayed in the dorms Umbridge wouldn't be able to check his backpack or follow him around. She had checked his bag two more times that week and followed him once more to the Quidditch Pitch, where she informed him that she wanted to be sure he wasn't flying when he wasn't allowed to.

"Ron has my broom maam. He's using it now since I can't play."

"I see," she had said. "I think I'll just place a spell on the school brooms then to ensure you can't use any of them, just to be safe. I know you have a penchant for skirting around rules and getting yourself into trouble. I'd hate to have to assign you even more detentions Mr. Potter."

She acted as though she was doing Harry a favor, and he hated her for it like he hated uncle Vernon for shipping him off to Snape. Harry wished he had someone, anyone at all to be on his side and to step in and tell Umbridge, or the Headmaster, or even the Ministry that what was happening to Harry was unfair. His mind flitted to aunt Petunia and how she always stuck up for Dudley. He wanted that. He wanted her to stick up for him... to send a howler to the Headmaster and berate him for letting Umbridge take Quidditch away from him, or to owl the Ministry about Harry's right to learn defense... or even just to stand up to uncle Vernon when he wanted to sign Harry's life away to Snape, or to push Harry around.

"Mr. Potter?" Umbridge had been calling him back to reality.

He had let his eyes flit up to her but then let them fall to the ground again, a knot in his gut. Aunt Petunia would never save him from any of the injustices that were happening. She hadn't yet and wouldn't now.

"Hm," she had said, lips pursed. She must have thought Harry looked contrite, or that warding the school brooms against Harry's use would be good enough, because she moved off and left him alone in the Pitch, and didn't follow him out there again after that.

* * *

Sunday morning Harry went out to the Pitch with Ron and Ginny. Hermione was busy studying and hadn't wanted to join him, but Neville had agreed to come along. "I want to get out a bit more before the weather turns," he said. It was the 12th of October and most of the leaves had fallen off the trees now due to a wicked wind that had kicked up the day before. It had rained a few times, but despite being chilly, this day held sunny skies.

"Yeah, be too cold to come out in a few weeks," Harry said. He was used to trying to stay in the castle as much as possible once it began to snow because he usually didn't have a good coat or gloves, but this year he had the Gryffindor scarf and hat, which he was wearing this morning. He also had a deep crimson pair of fabric gloves that were keeping his hands toasty warm as he sat with Neville and watched the Gryffindor players swoop and dive.

"Think they've got a chance against Slytherin later this month?" Neville asked.

Harry shrugged. Ginny was doing great, but Ron still needed a lot of work. Harry would have jumped at the chance to spend evenings helping him, but Umbridge had gone as far as to ward his Firebolt against Harry's use for the time being to ensure only Ron was using it as Harry had said.

"I'm halfway through my list in potions now," Neville said proudly. "I still need help with the concepts list though. I don't understand most of it. No offense to Hermione or anything, but she seems to get angry with me when I don't understand. I'd appreciate your help with it."

"Sure," Harry said. "I'm studying potions all the time anyway. Now that I'm reading the apprenticeship books all the concepts I struggled with before seem easy now."

"Don't tell my gran that," Neville begged him. "If you tell her that she'll sign me up for a potions apprenticeship too."

Harry laughed. "Can you imagine if Snape took both of us on together?"

"Take it back," Neville urged him. "Don't even think it."

"Actually," Harry said, "if it wasn't for me having to be apprenticed to Snape, learning potions hasn't been all that bad. I don't really enjoy the brewing part of it, or the studying, but I spent a lot of time collecting ingredients this summer and that part was kind of fun. We went all over the moores and forests this summer collecting mushrooms and plants like aconite."

Neville thought about it for a moment and said, "So you spent the summer doing herbology work?"

Harry hadn't thought of it like that before. "I guess," he said. "I learned a lot about everything we were collecting. I guess herbology and potions are pretty closely related."

"Has your grade in Herbology gone up since you started the apprenticeship?"

"Yeah actually, it has. Not by much, I mean, I was already passing Herbology, but last year I ended the year with an A and right now I have an E."

"I love herbology," Neville said, and Harry didn't tell him that he already knew. Neville could spend hours talking about herbology with enthusiasm, not noticing that no one else in the room was interested, though Hermione was always polite enough to act like she was. "It's the only class I always get an O in."

"Maybe this is your year to get an O in potions," Harry told him. It was certainly Harry's year to get an O in the class. Just last week his grade had moved up from an E to an O, which he felt very impressed with himself for since Snape seemed to be holding him to a higher standard than the rest of the class. Snape was continuing to make Harry brew potions they were trying to master without a recipe and by giving him the wrong ingredients, or wrong amount of ingredients. Sometimes he tripped Harry up, but Harry was getting good at converting the wrong potions ingredients into what he needed.

"If you help me get an O in potions gran will come to the school and kiss you."

"Neville," Harry said, giving him an unenthused look, and then they both laughed. Then someone screamed, and Harry's attention was drawn to the field where Angelina and Ginny were both racing towards Ron as he hurtled towards the ground on Harry's broom. Harry leapt to his feet and he and Neville raced down the stairs towards the ground.

The Pitch was big, and by the time they got to the far end where Ron had been goal keeping, the entire team was crowded around him.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Bludger caught him in the head," Fred said, moving aside so Harry could see. Fred looked worried which was something Harry wasn't used to seeing from either one of the twins. Harry's eyes moved down to Ron who had blood coming from a gash on his temple. He wasn't sure if it was from the Bludger hitting him or from him hitting the ground.

"I caught him by his sleeve just a few feet above the ground," Ginny said. "He still hit the ground pretty hard though."

"Let's get him up to the castle," George said. He was already kneeling down by his brother and Harry knelt down with him to pick him up. Neville grabbed Harry's Firebolt since Harry couldn't even touch it now, and Fred and Cormac grabbed Ron's legs. The four of them carried Ron like this for about ten feet before Fred suggested a charm to lighten the load and Angelina cast one for them.

"I'm going to fly ahead to the castle to get Madam Pomfrey," she said, and left them there to carry Ron awkwardly up to the castle.

"I'm going to learn that charm to conjure a stretcher first change I get," George said, shifting Ron to get a better grip on his shoulders and almost dropping him.

"Wait," Harry said, "let me take his shoulders. You lift up under his back."

Ron was still unconscious twenty minutes later as they made the front steps of the castle. Madam Pomfrey and Professor Flitwick were there waiting for them, and had the boys lower Ron to the ground so Flitwick could conjure a stretcher and then hover Ron the rest of the way up to the Hospital Wing.

Harry, Neville, and the rest of the team followed them up to the Hospital Wing, but most of them were told to go back to their dorms so Madam Pomfrey could work on Ron. Only his siblings and Harry were allowed to stay provided they stay out of her way while she worked.

"Get the bruise balm Harry," she instructed, "and a class one swelling potion. It's the red one, yes."

Harry brought the potions he'd helped brew before school started over to her and set them on the tray next to the bed Ron had been settled on top of. She made Fred, George and Ginny recount what had happened including exactly where he'd been hit, with what, and the position of his body when he'd hit the ground.

After running several scans she stood back and said, "He's got a concussion and a twisted ankle. He'll be all right but I have to keep him here until tomorrow until I'm certain the swelling has gone down from the concussion."

"I'm going to go owl mum and dad," Fred said, and he left his broom with George and took off at a sprint towards the Owlery. Ginny sat down beside Ron's bed while Madam Pomfrey tried to rouse him, failed, and ended up spelling the swelling potion and a general healing potion into Ron's stomach.

"Watch," she told Harry as she pulled Ron's shoe and sock off and opened the tin of bruise balm. "Come closer and look." Harry did as he was told and she took a glob of bruise balm out of the tin and put it onto Ron's ankle.

"It has to go on in a circular motion. It seems like a lot of bruise balm to apply over a small area, but this is the right amount. It needs to be rubbed in until all of it's gone." She pointed to Ron's ankle and then traced a line with her finger down along the top left of his foot. "The sprain is never just in the ankle itself. He doesn't have a torn ligament, but the sprain has extended down to here in the foot, so the bruise balm has to be applied here as well. See how it's disappearing now? It's being absorbed into the skin and down into the muscles. His ankle will be fine by tomorrow morning though it may still be sore for a few days."

She finished applying the balm and stood up. "What ingredient in the balm helps it to absorb through the skin?" she asked Harry.

"Astragalus Root," Harry said.

"Very good. Don't worry about your brother," she said, looking up at Ginny and George. "He's going to be just fine. Harry brewed all of the potions he just took." She left them there to go wash the rest of the bruise balm off of her hands, and George slapped Harry on the back.

"Good job," he said. "Thanks for the potions."

"Erm- no problem," Harry said.

"Is that why she had you look while she was applying the bruise balm?" Ginny asked.

Harry shrugged. "I guess."

"I had him watch because healing and potions are closely related fields," she told them. "Healers can get a second mastery in healing potions, which only takes a year as it only focuses on brewing healing potions. Or," she continued, "Potions masters can get a second mastery in healing."

"Does Professor Snape have a mastery in healing?" Ginny asked, as he was the only potions master she knew.

"No, but he's a competent healer nonetheless. To be a potions master he has to have an intensive knowledge of healing potions and what they do. He doesn't have a license to use more than basic healing spells, but he knows exactly what potions to give a person and how much a person needs based on weight and age. I would wager he probably does have all the necessary knowledge of healing spells he would need to pass the basic healer's exam if he had the desire to do so." She turned to Harry and said, "After your mastery in Potions you may want to consider healing. That's why I had you watch."

"Thanks," Harry said. He was more worried about his friend being injured than learning about treating his injuries, but was grateful at the same time. Being forced to pay attention to her applying the bruise balm had taken his worry away for a few minutes.

"One of you can stay, the rest will have to go. Mr. Weasley needs to rest."

They decided that George would stay and that Ginny would come back later so George could go to lunch.

"That was scary," Ginny said as they left and started back towards Gryffindor. "Fred hit the Bludger towards Angelina but it doubled back towards Ron. He'll feel awful about it. I'd better go find him and make sure he knows Ron's ok."

Harry nodded. "Good luck. I'm glad he's alright. I'll tell Hermione what happened if the others didn't already."

They parted ways and Harry continued down the corridor. He had almost made it to Gryffindor when Umbridge rounded the corner followed a few feet back by Snape. Before Umbridge could say anything to Harry or demand to search his bag again, which he didn't even have with him, Snape said, "Potter, a word."

Harry passed Umbridge without looking at her, mind still back in the Hospital Wing with Ron, and followed Snape down to the dungeons.

They went to Snape's office, and he didn't bother to close or ward the door against eavesdroppers.

"You did not come to the potions lab yesterday," he commented. Harry hoped he wasn't in trouble, but couldn't detect any anger in the man's voice.

"No sir."

"Why?"

Harry looked down and fidgeted for a moment. "I figured it would be best if I stayed in the dorms where I couldn't get... in any trouble sir."

Snape sighed and said, "I see." He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small book, which he pushed across the desk towards Harry.

"It has been some time since I have had you brewing new potions, aside from those which you are learning in class. You are meeting my expectations for studying the apprentice texts, and I believe you are far enough along to begin brewing potions from this book."

Harry looked down at the cover. It was soft brown leather like some of his apprentice texts, but it had no title.

"What kinds of potions are in here?" Harry asked.

"Caustic ones. I have already asked a house elf to retrieve your dragonhide gloves, copper cauldron and work instruments. If we start now, we will be done by dinner."

He motioned for Harry to follow him out of the office and down the corridor. Harry expected to be led to the upper year classroom they always brewed in, but was instead brought to place he hadn't been to yet.

"Where are we?" Harry asked when they stopped outside an intricately carved heavy wooden door.

"My quarters and private lab."

He opened the door with a password Harry couldn't hear, and Harry expected to find an apartment similar to the one above Camden Alley, but the door only led into a short corridor with two more doors, one straight ahead, and one to the left. Snape opened the door to the left and led Harry into a small potions lab. The lab had three workbenches, each against their own wall, a sink, a square table in the middle of the room, and a door to a potions cupboard.

"Open the book to page 17 and gather the necessary ingredients from the cupboard." Snape moved towards Harry's copper cauldron and instruments and began setting them up along the square table in the center.

Harry took the book and went into the potions cupboard. It was the same size as the corridor potions supply outside the upper year classroom, and had a lot of the same things inside, but it also had jars and jars of mushrooms of every shape and size, some of which Harry suspected he had helped gather that summer. There was also a large jar of the aconite from that summer, and dozens of ingredients Harry couldn't yet identify. Thankfully each jar was labeled like it should be, and Harry came out of the supply cupboard a few minutes later with nine small jars of ingredients.

"Many of these ingredients are caustic all on their own," Severus warned him. "You are to wear your gloves the entire time. Be sure to put them on before you open any of the jars." He also held out a pair of safety glasses and did a spell that stuck them to the outside of Harry's regular glasses. Snape put on a pair of safety glasses as well. "When working with caustic ingredients or caustic potions you must wear safety glasses to shield your eyes. Some potions masters prefer a mask with a large piece of glass that shields their entire face. We are not working with an explosive potion however, so the glasses will be enough protection for now."

Harry put his gloves on and listened as Snape explained the base of the potion and the additional ingredients going in on top of the base, as well as the use of this particular potion. It was a potion used to remove impurities from any number of different minerals and magical objects. The exact caustic ingredients they were using each served to remove a different type of magical impurity from whatever object had been dipped into it.

"If the potion splashes on you, it will dissolve your skin. Ensure that you are not touching the potion or ingredients with any part of your body. If it splashes onto your clothes you have seconds to remove the soiled garment before the potion eats through it and gets to your skin."

Before Harry was allowed to open any of the jars Snape brought over two brown pieces of dragonhide leather with straps, and strapped them to Harry's forearms where the potion was most likely to splash up if he stirred it too vigorously. Snape put on a pair of the forearm guards as well and they began.

"Remove the lid from the dragon saliva first."

"Did Soren collect this?" Harry asked.

"No. I collected it from the Chinese Fireball during the tournament last year after it was incapacitated."

Harry forced himself to focus on the task at hand instead of on the tournament, and used a measuring spoon to measure out one part of the thick gelled saliva. It sizzled as he scooped it out of the jar and it met the air.

"That is flammable Potter, which is why we won't be turning on the flame until it's in the cauldron and that jar of saliva is capped again and returned to the store room."

Snape used a stirring rod to scoop the sizzling saliva out of the scooper Harry held and into the cauldron, and then Harry returned the jar to the potions cupboard, lid firmly reattached.

"Next is the winged scarab. It must be crushed first into a fine powder. The powder is not caustic, but mixed with anything wet it will become so. Ensure you do not sweat and let sweat drip from your face into the powder."

Snape set to preparing one of the other ingredients he considered too dangerous for Harry to handle at this point and let Harry crush the shiny dead scarabs into a fine powder. After Harry had added the powder into the cauldron, there was a little poof of smoke, followed by a sizzling sound as it hit the dragon saliva.

"Is that ok?" Harry asked, looking into the cauldron.

"Yes. Do not lean over the cauldron or you risk the potion splashing up onto you." They worked together for several more minutes preparing ingredients and adding them to the cauldron before Snape set Harry to crushing up a different kind of beetle, this one from China, and went to collect a single dragon scale out of a jar with only a few of them.

The beetle Harry was crushing had a shell that felt as hard as rock and it was going to take him a while to crush it. As he worked his mind drifted back up to the Hospital Wing where Ron was probably still lying unconscious. He wagered that lunch had already come and gone and so Ginny had probably swapped places with George already. She'd probably stay until dinner, and then Fred or maybe Hermione would sit with Ron if he still hadn't woken up yet.

"Is that finished yet?" Snape asked.

Harry nodded and moved from the workbench against the wall to bring over the crushed beetle. He'd needed to prepare it away from the potion as the potion was sizzling and popping and spitting, sending little bits of the potion up into the air now. Harry's ingredient was the last to go in and it was imperative that nothing splash into it until it was dumped into the potion.

"Use both hands," Snape instructed, wanting to ensure Harry was being careful, and Harry nodded, looking into the crushed gray powder. It looked like ash now that he was done with it.

As Harry approached the workbench in the center where the potion continued to pop and sizzle, he lifted the mortar up above his chest to ensure nothing from the potion flew up into it. As a result, Harry was looking up at the mortar instead of down at his feet, and startled a moment later when his shoe hit the edge of the table, painfully jamming his toe. He bit his lip to keep from cursing in front of Snape, and set the mortar down on the table in front of him. He hated walking into things and stubbing his toes.

"Potter! The beetle powder!" Snape snapped, and Harry looked down to realize that some of the potion had sizzled up high enough to splash out of the cauldron and right into the mortar of ash colored powder. Harry didn't even have time to react because as soon as the drop of potion mixed with the powder, it began to bubble and foam, sizzling as it swelled in size and came right over the edge of the mortar and onto Harry's gloves and forearm guards.

"Get them off!" Snape shouted, coming around the table and dragging Harry away from the swelling sizzling mess that was now eating through the wood of the table.

In his panic Harry couldn't seem to get the gloves off in time. He got one off but the fizzing gray concoction had already eaten its way through his left glove and was burning his hand. Snape used both of his hands to pull Harry's contaminated glove off and throw it on the floor before pulling both of his own gloves off which were contaminated now as well. He used his bare hands to pull the arm guards off of Harry's forearms, but not before the potion had eaten through the right arm guard and had burned Harry's arm.

Snape forced Harry to sit down on a stool and then disappeared from view. Harry didn't know where he went but assumed he'd gone to take the cauldron off the table which had begun to dissolve from the caustic gray beetle powder.

It seemed to Harry that Snape had left the room altogether. He must have gone up through the castle to get Madam Pomfrey, because he'd been gone forever. Maybe he'd forgotten that Harry was hurt. He wasn't sure because he was being overwhelmed with a dozen painful sensations all at once. His left hand and right forearm were burning, but they felt cold and hot at the same time. His ears were alight with the sound of sizzling and popping and hissing, and he thought it might be his skin, but couldn't be sure. Lights were dancing in front of his eyes, maybe from the pain, and his lungs had started to burn as well. He was choking, and he was certain he was choking on his own death.

"Come on, get up." The sizzling sound stopped momentarily as Snape's words cut in, but Harry couldn't understand what the man had said anyway. He was too overwhelmed with the sights and sounds of his every sense being lit on fire.

It was long moments before he heard Snape's words again and realized that the lights were no longer dancing in front of his eyes. He wasn't in the potions lab anymore and was sitting on a wooden chair in another room, though he didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten there. Wait, he wasn't on a wooden chair, he was on a closed toilet in a bathroom.

"Potter. Potter!" Snape said, and Harry realized Snape was there with him, kneeling in front of him.

"I'm fine," Harry said.

The man scoffed and his face came into focus even better for Harry, where he found black eyes boring into his own as the haze cleared further.

"Hold your hands still, don't let them touch anything."

Harry tried to look down but Snape snapped at him and grabbed his chin. "Eyes up!" Harry's eyes widened and he stiffened at the man's sharp tone. "Don't look down."

"Are- are my arms still there?" Harry asked in fear. If the man didn't want him to look down he feared it was because his arms had both been dissolved. Maybe it was best that he'd already been kicked off the Quidditch team and loaned his broom to Ron. He would never be able to hold on to his broom if he didn't have hands and arms to hold on with.

"You can't feel them?" Snape asked.

Harry was afraid to say he could feel pain. He definitely felt like his arms were still there and on fire, but was worried now that it was only phantom pain. Dudley always watched shows about World War I where soldiers had lost limbs, and had heard them talking about phantom pain before.

"Potter!" Snape snapped, and Harry came back to his awareness of the bathroom again.

"I'm fine," Harry said again.

"You are not," Snape said quietly. "Yes, your arms and hands are still there, though you're badly burned. I don't have time to take you up to the Hospital Wing. If I don't treat these with a potion now the burns will grow worse. I need to debride the wounds to get rid of any of the potion that may still be lingering and burning you."

Harry looked down to see that Snape had a box full of potions bottles and was scolded for not keeping his eyes up. It was too late, he'd caught sight of his arms and hands already. Along the palm and wrist of his left hand there was a burn where the flesh was black and red and inflamed. The edges of the burn seemed to be glowing red like a pool of lava that had already hardened in the middle but not on the edges. His right hand didn't have burns on it but his right forearm did, and it looked the same.

"Eyes on me," Snape said, and Harry wondered why the man's voice was so soft. Maybe it wasn't soft, maybe it was just the first time Harry had heard him not sound so stern or angry.

"This is anesthetic," Snape said, uncorking a bottle and pouring a tiny bit onto Harry's left hand. Harry hissed as it hit the wound and pulled his hand back, wanting to cradle it to himself.

"Damn," Snape said, and he corked the bottle and put it back in the box.

"What?" Harry asked, looking down to be sure his hand was still there.

"You're allergic to the only anesthetic I have."

"I am?"

"The one part of the wound the anesthetic touched is puffing up. It's an allergic reaction. If I pour it over your wounds so you don't feel anything during the cleaning process, the wounds will swell up so much that I won't be able to clean them."

Snape sighed out of frustration, rummaged through his box again and then looked up at Harry. "I'm sorry. I have to debride it. It's going to hurt."

"Just- just get it over with," Harry said.

Snape uncorked a clear potion with a light blue tint and gripped Harry's left hand at the fingers, careful not to touch his palm or wrist. "I would tell you not to pull it back, but I know you will anyway," Snape said. He did sound sorry, but Harry didn't have time to wonder about it because in the next moment the potion was being poured over the wound and sharp searing pain was being sent all the way up Harry's arm and into his brain. He didn't think he passed out, but he really didn't know if he had or not. He was only aware of pain and then when he came back to himself a moment later, he was slumped sideways on the toilet seat breathing heavily as though he'd never taken a breath before. Snape was holding him up. His left hand was still burning, but not like it had been before the debriding potion had been poured on it. Harry looked down, and the edges were no longer glowing red like lava.

"I have to do you right arm now."

Harry began to breathe heavily in preparation and Snape didn't give him a chance to prepare before pouring the potion over it. Harry really did pass out this time. He knew he had because his vision went black and he woke up on the floor of the bathroom. Snape must have let him slump forward or pulled him onto the floor so he wouldn't fall and hurt himself.

"The chemical reaction has stopped," Snape told him. "I'm going to pour an anti-inflammatory potion. It will sting a little but not like the debriding potion."

Harry steeled himself for what was to come, but barely felt anything when Snape drenched his wounds in the anti-inflammatory potion. This potion seemed to have an immediate effect, even on the spot where his wound had puffed up from the small bit of anesthetic Snape had tried to apply that had caused an allergic reaction.

"Next is a burn potion," he said. He didn't uncork a bottle and instead stood up and left Harry on the bathroom floor for a minute. Harry was grateful to have a few moments to recover and just to breathe. When Snape returned he had a plastic tub which he filled with cold water from the sink and set on Harry's lap. Then he poured the burn potion into it and had Harry lower his arms into the potion so that his wounds were fully submerged in the plastic tub.

"That feels better," Harry said. The water couldn't have been as cold as it felt, he thought. The potion must have been making the tub of water feel like ice, and it felt amazing on his arms, which had stopped stinging for the first time since the accident. Harry wasn't even sure how long ago the accident had been. It could have been minutes, or hours. He'd been so disoriented at first it was hard to tell.

"I'm going to pour in a pain potion as well," Snape said, and uncorked one of the last phials of potion he had in the box. It was electric blue and when he poured it into the plastic tub it turned the liquid blue. Any pain Harry had still been feeling was gone now. His arms had gone numb up to his elbows where they were submerged. Harry let his head fall back and reveled in the feeling of not feeling anything for long moments.

"How are your lungs? Are they burning?" Severus asked, eyes locked on the fifth year on his bathroom floor.

"No," Harry said. He pulled his head back up, looking tired and still not altogether present, eyes hazy, though not as bad as they had been before when Severus had dragged him out of the potions lab. "I think they might have been before... before I was here."

"The lab was filling with noxious purple gas. The crushed beetles were meant to be dumped into the cauldron in one swift motion. If they had been, any noxious gas they were emitting would have been absorbed by the potion immediately. Instead the drop of potion that ended up in the mortar set off a chain reaction, and the room began to fill with gas."

Harry stared at him until Severus' eyes came around to check on the boy again. "I'm sorry," Harry said. "I didn't mean to-" Harry trailed off like his mind was still hazy and couldn't come up with the right words.

"To burn your arms?" Severus asked. He didn't know what the boy was apologizing for. Sometimes accidents happened when brewing. Potions masters did the best they could to avoid accidents, and to prepare for them in the eventuality that they did occur, case in point he had a box of potions for any potions burns ready to go at all times. Regardless, anything from improperly prepared ingredients to potions splashing where they shouldn't could cause an accident. Severus had had some legendary accidents of his own. Once in his third year of apprenticeship he'd accidentally deaged himself, though he wouldn't tell the boy about that.

"See that you are careful to avoid accidents like this in the future," he said, and the boy looked surprised for some reason. "Accidents happen Potter. You were being careful. Next time you work with caustic ingredients you will remember this incident and be more cautious. I was able to dump an extinguishing potion on the cauldron and on the mortar of beetle powder and then move the cauldron from the table before the table collapsed. Thankfully there was not too much noxious gas in the air by the time I was able to get you and I both out of the lab."

He leveled Harry with a serious look. "This is why we do not work with caustic potions alone. You should always work with another person when making something that could go wrong like this. If you had been alone and this had happened you would have been left in the room with the noxious fumes and would have been unable to get the protective equipment off before more damage was done." Severus had learned the hard way. Once in his younger years as a teacher Albus had come down to talk to him only to find him passed out on the floor of his own lab. He hadn't been burned, but he'd been overwhelmed by noxious fumes he hadn't been aware were in the air because they'd been odorless and colorless.

"Lift your arms up," Severus said, and the boy did so. The burns already looked fifty percent better than they had before, and most of the swelling had gone away. "The burns look better. You will need to go to the Hospital Wing so Madam Pomfrey can treat the wounds to regrow the skin and bandage your arms."

"She'll be mad at me for coming back twice in one day," Harry said, not serious at all. It was a great, and yet horrible excuse to spend time with Ron.

"Twice in one day?" Snape asked, removing the plastic tub of potion and helping Harry to his feet.

"I had to take Ron up there earlier. He got knocked out by a Bludger. She tossed me and Ginny out and said only one person at a time could visit him."

"Hm."

Snape accompanied him up through the castle. Umbridge watched them pass on the second floor but Snape must have given her a look that said he wasn't willing to stop and let her scold Harry. Holding his arms gingerly all the way up to the Hospital Wing, Harry let Snape push the heavy doors open and went inside and settled himself onto the bed next to Ron. Ron was awake now but looked tired, and he and Ginny gaped at Harry as he held his bare arms up, unwilling to let the wounds touch anything.

"Harry what happened to you?" Ginny asked, turning in her seat to face him instead of Ron.

He didn't have time to answer because Madam Pomfrey came bustling out since Snape had gone to her office to get her. Instead Ron and Ginny listened as Snape described the incident, the ingredients that had been in the potion that had caused the burns, the noxious gas, and the treatment he'd already administered to Harry's injuries.

Madam Pomfrey shooed Ginny out of the Hospital Wing because she needed to move to both sides of Harry's bed to further treat his injured arms, and after she was done thirty minutes later Snape told Harry he'd be by to check on him later and left the ward as well. Alone together, Ron leaned towards Harry and said, "Harry. Harry."

Harry looked over at him, arms finally bandaged and resting against the bed comfortably.

"You shoulda looked at that Pegasus longer the other day. This has been a rotten string of luck."

"Speak for yourself," Harry said.

"Yeah," Ron said, sitting back against his pillows. "I didn't look long either. I was busy looking at Hermione."

Harry shook his head, wondering if Ron would ever get up the nerve to ask her out. Ron and Hermione had liked each other since third year, but Harry never mentioned it, and neither did they.

"Just don't forget to ask Snape about that luck potion," Ron said. "That's the only way we'll get rid of Umbridge and get you back to Quidditch."

Harry settled further into his pillows and tried to shut Ron out. He'd rather not think about Umbridge, or about anything at all. He wanted to rest and forget this horrible week had ever happened. Later he wondered if Madam Pomfrey had given him something to make him sleep, because he nodded off in the middle of whatever Ron had said next, and didn't wake up until the next morning.

"Well, it's not like the two of you were slacking. You were both seriously injured." She motioned to Harry's still bandaged left hand and right wrist.

"It's fine," he told her. "Thanks for the notes though." The way she'd highlighted and made extra comments on the pages of notes meant he and Ron would have to do less work to catch up. It appeared she'd already found time to start the defense homework as well between classes that day and had written notes on the first few pages of reading for them too.

Harry had to return to the Hospital Wing the next day to get the bandages removed and so Madam Pomfrey could give his healing burns one last check over.

"These are healing nicely," she told him. "The dittany seems to have done its work. There's some scarring, but not as much as there would have been if Professor Snape hadn't been able to treat you before bringing you up here. Speaking of, you'll need to go down and see him as soon as you're done here."

"But I have Charms class," Harry said. He'd come up during lunch to get the bandages removed, but still had Charms class to go to.

"You've been excused. I'm sure your friends can take notes for you."

"Yes maam."

Harry left the Hospital Wing and went down to the dungeons, uncertain if Snape would be in his office or in a class teaching. He found him in his office. Apparently he had Tuesday afternoon free.

He was expecting Harry and the door opened of its own accord as soon as Harry knocked.

"Sit down," Snape told him. Before Harry could even ask what he was doing there, Snape was up out of his chair and pulling a potion out of a little cupboard on one wall of his office along with a bowl.

"Do you know what this is Potter?" he asked, holding out a glass container with yellow liquid.

Harry shook his head and Snape handed him the potion. "Look at it. Open it up and smell it. Do not taste it."

He did as he was told, pulling the cork out of the bottle and swirling the potion around inside before sniffing at it. He gagged at the smell. It was sickly sweet but also putrid at the same time. "What is it sir?"

"Essense of murtlap with witch hazel. Murtlap has a distinctive smell you won't forget now that you've smelled it. Together with the witch hazel it's a strong topical healing potion that can help reduce and heal scarring. Roll up your sleeves and let me see the burns."

"That has to go on my skin?" Harry asked, dismayed. He couldn't deny he'd be happy to get rid of the fresh scars, but he didn't want to walk around smelling like putrid murtlap for the rest of the day.

"Once it touches your skin and begins its work to heal the scars it will no longer smell. It smells primarily because the murtlap oil has been off gassing in this container for months." He motioned for Harry to do as he'd been told and roll up his sleeves and then poured some of the yellow liquid into the little bowl.

"Is it going to hurt?" Harry asked warily. He'd had quite enough of pain in the last few days.

"No."

Harry laid his bare arms on the desk, palms up, and Snape pulled a clean cloth out of the little potions cabinet and put it into the bowl to soak up some of the potion, then dabbed it onto Harry's fresh scars.

"It tingles," Harry told him.

"That means it is doing its work. Madam Pomfrey used dittany to grow fresh skin over the burn areas. In the center of the fresh skin growth there's no blemish, but at the edges where it meets your old skin there is scarring. Applying this now will reduce the scarring. It could not be applied until your skin was fully regrown or it would have interfered with the dittany she applied."

He dabbed the potion onto Harry's right wrist and said, "Sit there with your arms on the table for a few minutes and I will apply the potion again when it has soaked into your skin. This can be applied up to five times in one day. With any luck it should remove most of the scarring before we get to the fifth application. Anything beyond five applications is not likely to work."

If he wanted to apply it five times in one sitting, Harry could see why he would have to miss his entire Charms class.

Snape had a seat in his chair across the desk and said, "You have had quite an eventful start of term Potter."

Feeling awkward just sitting there with his arms bared Harry looked up at him briefly and said, "I'd like a quiet term as much as you would."

Snape scoffed quietly. "That is doubtful. You have antagonized Umbridge to the point where she feels she must harass you in return."

"I haven't," Harry said, before quickly closing his mouth. He knew better than to argue with a man who could make his life hell if he wanted to. "I haven't been lately," Harry amended his statement at the piercing look he was getting from Snape. "She just follows me everywhere."

"Did you not attempt to make a nuisance of yourself asking her questions all through class and then going to her office every evening to pepper her with questions?"

Well, Harry had done that. When he didn't answer Snape stood up and moved back to the bowl of potion to apply a second round to Harry's arms. "Now she is enjoying repaying you in kind."

He frowned. "She's doing this to get even?" He was surprised.

"I do not know. The Headmaster believes she was always going to do what she could to ruin your reputation in the eyes of your peers and staff. She certainly appears to be enjoying herself while doing it however."

She was everywhere Harry turned. The only place she had stopped following him to was the Quidditch Pitch. Harry had even considered going outside more often just to get away from her because he didn't want to stay cooped up by himself in Gryffindor all weekend in his free time.

Between applications of the murtlap Snape sat at his desk and graded papers for five or ten minutes at a time. After the fifth application Snape held Harry's left arm up to look at his palm and wrist closely and then gave a nod of approval. "The scarring has been minimized as much as it can be." While he was looking at Harry's right wrist, Harry checked out his left hand. There was a faint line around the edges of where the burn had been, but it was so faint it wasn't noticeable unless Harry really looked hard.

"You may go to the remainder of Charms or go to dinner early," Snape told him. "Whatever you choose, you are to stay out of trouble."

"Yes sir."

"Do not do any potions work until class tomorrow as you do not have gloves to use at present."

Harry nodded and left, unsure how he was supposed to brew in class without gloves. His apprentice gloves had been burned through and were probably in a garbage bin in Snape's private lab. The man was supposed to provide what he needed, but Harry wasn't sure when or if he would. His question was answered the next day in double potions when Snape sent Harry to sit on the Slytherin side of the room with Goyle, and handed him a pair of soft black dragonhide brewing gloves. They looked like Snape's.

"Mr. Goyle, you would do well to listen to what Potter tells you to do during brewing today. This is the last day we have time to work on mastering the Emerald Drink Of Despair, and anyone who sits next to Potter seems to improve."

Harry was too busy examining the gloves to fret about sitting next to Goyle or to listen to the praise Snape had given him. These didn't just look like Snape's gloves, they were his gloves. He looked up at Snape in question, but the man only turned away and went over to Pansy to ask her to move to the Gryffindor side next to Parvati, who was also struggling with this particular potion.

Harry put Snape's gloves on, feeling strange wearing them. They were soft inside too, and thinner than what he was used to wearing. He could tell based on the type of leather that they were more protective even than apprentice grade gloves despite being thinner.

Goyle grunted and Harry came out of his thoughts to realize that the Slytherins seemed uncomfortable to have him sitting on their side of the classroom. Harry cleared his throat and asked Goyle quietly, "What did your last brew look like in class?"

"What's it to you?" Crabbe snapped at the workbench in front of them where he sat next to Draco.

"I want to help him but I need to know what went wrong with his last attempt at the potion." Harry hadn't been there for the previous class because he'd been in the Hospital Wing Monday, and he had no idea why Goyle was struggling with it. His potion could have exploded, or bubbled over or been sabotaged and Harry would have had no idea.

"It was green like it should be," Goyle grunted in an irritated way.

"What shade of green?" Harry asked him. "Dark, light, glowing?"

"Glowing light green," he said.

"You could have added too much powder of star anise. That would have made it fluoresce."

Goyle ignored him and went to gather supplies and Snape brought over a box with the supplies he wanted Harry to use. When Goyle came back, he looked confused.

"Why are your ingredients different? Are you making a different potion?"

"I'm making the same thing. He's trying to trip me up."

"He wouldn't do that," Milicent said behind him, already chopping flobberworms for her potion.

"I can already make it by the recipe," Harry said, not turning to look at her. "Once I can do that, he gives me the wrong amount of the ingredients so I'll have to calculate and make a new recipe that still has the right proportions. When I can do that he gives me the wrong ingredients and makes me figure out how to turn them into what I need." When he was finished looking at the powder he'd been given in a little jar and trying to determine what it was, he looked up and found Goyle, Crabbe and Draco staring at him.

"What?"

"You have to master the potion, and then master it again with the wrong ingredients?" Draco asked.

Harry motioned to the powder. "Powdered star anise mixed with powdered flobberworm. I have no idea how much of each is in here, so now I have to add it to the potion and judge based on what color and consistency and smell it has how much more I need to add." He looked into the box again and said, "I need bitter root leaves but I've been given boom berry leaves and blood root leaves, so I'll have to mix these in equal parts to get the same effect as bitter root and cancel out the poisonous oils in the blood root and boom berry."

"That's impossible," Goyle said, starting to measure out his ingredients. "You can't get bitter root by mixing blood root and boom berry."

"No," Harry said, "but we're only getting the oils from the bitter root leaves, which is why we crush them. The oil has something we need. If I mix the blood root and boom berry leaves and crush them I'll get the same thing out of the oil that comes from them."

"What is the thing in the oil?" Draco asked skeptically.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Some chemical."

"Then how do you know all that stuff can be mixed together?"

Harry reached down to his bag beneath the table and pulled out the apprentice book on ingredients. It had hundreds of ingredients, their properties, where they could be found and other information like which ingredients could be mixed together to get certain effects. It didn't have every ingredient out there, and Harry had wondered if he'd be given another apprentice book after he memorized this one that had more. If there was a new book like that it was probably something given to apprentices in their third or fifth year of apprenticeship.

"It's in here," Harry said. Snape asked him weekly where he was at in this book and his other apprentice texts now, and Harry noted that the things he found in the boxes of ingredients Snape gave him to work with in class were always things he had already read about.

Draco looked slightly impressed... or maybe not, and turned back around to work on his own potion without another word. Harry tried to keep track of where Goyle was with his potion as he worked with the ingredients in his own box trying to come up with something that would pass and wouldn't earn him a failing grade for the day, and several times reached out to stop Goyle from adding the wrong amount of something into his cauldron.

"That's too much, re-measure it," Harry said, stopping him from once again dumping too much powder of star anise into his cauldron.

"It says one measure," Goyle grouched at him.

"Yeah, but that's not one measure," Harry said, pointing at it. "Level it off. That's a measure plus almost another quarter of a measure." Harry picked up Goyle's knife and pushed it against the top edges of his measuring device to level off the amount of powder inside, making the extra fall onto the table. "There, put that in. If you're not precise your potion will be glowing again."

Crabbe seemed to be on the same step as Goyle at the table in front of them and took a moment to level his measuring device off as well. Harry turned around and found Blaise behind him next to Millicent doing the same thing and bit his lip trying not to laugh.

Goyle did pass his potion this time around, though he didn't say thanks to Harry or mention him as part of his success. Harry didn't mind as he was too busy fretting over his own potion. Draco turned around at the acrid stench coming out of Harry's cauldron and scrunched up his nose. The potion was hissing and smoke was coming up out of it.

"I thought you were supposed to be good at this Potter," Draco said.

Snape came over to look into Harry's cauldron and ignoring the blond asked Harry, "What went wrong?"

"I can't tell how much of the powder to add because the star anise is mixed in with the flobberworm already. I need a measure of star anise and half a measure of flobberworm, but I have no idea what ratio of each is in the powder. I thought maybe you'd given me a ratio of one to one half, but I guess not."

"What are the steps to find out what the ratio is?"

Harry gave him a bewildered look. It hadn't been anywhere in his apprentice texts, or at least if it was there he wasn't to that point in his reading yet.

"I don't know sir."

"Where did you obtain this powder mixture?"

"The box."

"And where did you obtain the box?"

"You," Harry said with a frown. Draco sniggered in front of him as he put his things away into his bag.

Snape turned to Draco and said, "Mr. Malfoy. What is the point that has gone over Potter's head?"

"He could have asked you," Draco said. He took a moment to smirk at Harry before leaving the room. The rest of the class was filing out now too on their way to lunch.

Harry huffed and moved to finish cleaning up his workstation. Neville gave Harry a sorry look on his way out as he was the last of their classmates to leave and Harry sighed. He wished he were just a regular student and not an apprentice. He did have fun sometimes with the extra challenge, and he couldn't deny he'd felt proud to be doing so well that Snape had him helping other students sometimes, but it would be nice not to have extra work on his plate. It would be nice to not have Snape staring at him as though he was waiting for some sort of answer Harry didn't know.

"Why did you not ask Mr. Potter?" Snape asked now that they were alone.

"I didn't think I was allowed to."

"You are my student, and my apprentice. Why would you not be allowed to ask for clarification regarding an ingredient you were uncertain about?"

"I thought you were trying to confuse me and wanted me to figure it out on my own."

"If you had been able to figure it out on your own, that would have been acceptable. However, my goal is that you should succeed with potions you are asked to brew. I presented you with a challenge. I did not present you with something I expected you to fail at. If you had acquired the ingredient from an apothecary or another potions master, would you have asked what the ratio of star anise to flobberworm was?"

"Yes."

"Then do so the next time you are uncertain about ingredients I have provided."

"Yes sir." He felt foolish now. It wasn't unreasonable to think the man wanted to challenge him and to figure it out on his own, but he could see now that he'd been stupid thinking the man was actively trying to give him a challenge so hard that he'd fail at it. It was in Snape's best interest to teach Harry what he needed to know to pass the first apprentice exam, not just to confuse him.

After he returned Snape's gloves to him and packed the last few things away into his bag and went to the door, Harry stopped and turned around and asked, "Is there another way to figure out the ratio though?"

"What does flobberworm powder react with?" Snape asked.

"Water," Harry said.

"How much flobberworm powder would gel a measure of water?"

"It's a one to one ratio. One measure of water to one measure of powdered flobberworm."

"With that knowledge could you have tested the powder in water to see how much powdered flobberworm was in a single measure of the powder you had been provided, and then from there figure out how much in each measure was star anise?"

"Yes sir," Harry said. "I'll do that next time."

Snape gave him a pointed look.

"Or I'll ask," he said. Snape gave a nod and turned away, so Harry left for lunch, still feeling foolish over the whole incident, and confused as to why Snape had let him wear the expensive master grade dragonhide gloves instead of just having Harry borrow an extra pair of student gloves from the lost and found.

* * *

"Do you wanna get out of the castle for a while?" Harry asked Hermione Friday afternoon. She'd been released from her Arithmancy class early, and since Harry no longer had Divination to go to, he had free time as well. Ron had been dragged out of the castle by Angelina for an extra practice since they were already two weeks into October now and their game against Slytherin was only two weeks away.

"I need to go to the library," she told him. She'd gone back to the common room just to drop off her books and pick up a new notebook. "We've been assigned a big project and I'm supposed to search for an arithmancy book I need to do research. It's going to take me the rest of the afternoon."

"Ok," Harry said, feeling bummed.

"I'll go," Neville said. Inspired by Ron and Harry's escape from Divination, he'd gotten permission from his gran to drop the subject as well just a few days prior. Neville's gran didn't think much of the subject of Divination to begin with, and had told Neville to put his extra hour and a half each week to good use studying for the upcoming OWLs.

"Yeah?" Harry asked. "I just wanna get out of the castle. I don't want to be locked up in here all the time and can't go anywhere inside without Umbridge being on my case."

"We can go down to the greenhouses," Neville said. "It'll be warm in there and I have permission from Professor Sprout to go in after hours so long as I stay out of greenhouse 5."

"Let's go," Harry told him. He ran up to the dorm to get his hoodie and the most recent book on vampires he'd checked out from the library, and then the two of them headed out of the castle.

"What are you reading?" Neville asked, pointing at the deep crimson book.

"Oh, it's a book about vampires."

"I thought you had only checked vampire books out to pester Professor Umbridge."

He shrugged. "It was interesting reading actually. I'd like to get more books about them from the defense section of the library, but there's no way Umbridge will let me into that section again. I found this one in the history section. Did you know the Ministry used to work with vampires? They can go into situations that aren't the safest since they can't die the same ways we can. There's this one that brewed potions and was always climbing to the top of mountains like Everest to get rare ingredients other people couldn't get to."

"That's interesting," Neville said. They made it to the greenhouses and Harry was glad to get in out of the chilly autumn air. It was cloudy out and windy and looked like it might rain.

"Look," Neville said, leading Harry over to a corner of the greenhouse to a large planter on a workbench filled with dirt. There was a spindly plant growing on one end, and a squat plant with thick glossy green leaves that looked like they were filled with liquid right next to it. "This is my planter. Professor Sprout said I could do what I wanted with it last year. Last year I was growing Mimbulus Mimbletonia. Over the summer I sold the three I grew and made twenty Galleons! This year I'm trying to hybridize this succulent with butterscotch borage. If I can, then the gel from inside the hybrid succulent could be used as an astringent. No one's ever hybridized a type of amnosia with a succulent before!"

Harry leaned in and inspected the two plants for a few moments and then stood up and looked at his friend. "You should look at one of my apprentice books sometime. One of them just has ingredients and their properties and information about them, and three fourths of the ingredients in the book are plants."

"Professor Snape wouldn't care if you let me look at it?"

Harry shook his head. He hadn't been told anything about not letting others see his books. Hermione had looked through them at the start of the school year. "I think you'd probably really like being a potions apprentice," Harry said. "We do a lot of gathering plants."

"Yeah but there's a lot of brewing too. I'll just stick with growing plants in a greenhouse," Neville said with a laugh. "When I graduate I want to get a piece of property somewhere out in the mountains and build a huge greenhouse and grow all sorts of things. I want to experiment with hybridization of plants that have never been mixed together before and see what I can come up with. Then you can buy the plants from me and make potions with them."

"I don't think so," Harry said. "I'm going to be an auror. I'm just stuck in this apprenticeship til my grades in potions go up. I ought to be able to make it through OWLs and NEWTs just fine now."

"Mr. Potter."

Harry and Neville turned and found Filch. "Aren't you out of bounds?"

"We're allowed to be here outside of class," Neville said. He looked as nervous as Harry felt to see Filch there. When had he come in? Had he been following Harry since Umbridge was still in class teaching?

"Yer allowed to be here outside of class," Filch corrected Neville with a toothy grin. "But this is out of bounds for you Potter. Best be on yer way."

Harry left without an argument, and Neville followed. Filch watched them until they were well away from the greenhouses.

"Did that seem creepy at all to you?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. Was he following us? I almost never see him outside the castle."

"Umbridge must have put him up to it."

"You can just get Professor Sprout to give you permission too. I'll tell her you're helping me. She'll give you a planter of your own to work with."

"That's ok," Harry said. It was nice in the greenhouse but it was apparently too easy to follow him down there and listen in on whatever he was saying. He hoped Filch hadn't heard him say he was only doing this apprenticeship for two years to raise his grades, though he thought he probably had. "I need somewhere else to lay low."

"The lake," Neville suggested.

"Yeah, but what about when it starts to rain and snow?" Harry was actually lamenting the fact that he'd lost the use of the greenhouses with Neville. Neville could have worked on his plants and Harry could have studied or read in the warmth of the greenhouse.

"You sure you don't want to start your own project? There must be something you could grow and say it was for your apprenticeship. Professor Sprout would approve you to be in the greenhouses whenever you wanted so long as it's before curfew." They turned and headed for the lake.

"There's this one mushroom actually," Harry said.

"Yeah? What is it? I've read about mushrooms some, but not too much yet."

"Shaggy Inkcap. There's a book of potions I've been reading from the library. It has some defensive potions and talks about chimaeric potions used for defense. Shaggy Inkcap is in the base for almost every chimaeric potion in the book, but professor Snape doesn't keep them stocked in the student supply cupboard, and I didn't see any in the other potions supply cupboards either."

"What other cupboards are there?"

"One in the corridor outside the upper year potions classroom and one in his private lab."

Neville shuddered. "His private lab? Is that deep in the dungeons somewhere?"

"It's in his quarters. That's where I was brewing when I got burned last week."

"Well can we find some shaggy inkcap here?" He motioned around them. The Hogwarts grounds were large, but Harry wasn't sure where to start looking. He had looked to see if shaggy inkcap was in his apprentice book of ingredients, but it wasn't even mentioned there. He'd meant to find another book of ingredients in the library, but had been steering clear of it as much as possible since every time he went, Umbridge or Filch showed up to ‘search' their study nook.

"If you could find some I could help you grow it. I did read about propagation of mushrooms. I don't think it will be too hard as mushrooms have a lot of spores. I don't think you'd be able to do it from dried or powdered mushroom though. You need a fresh one."

Harry nodded. "That'd be cool actually. It'd give me a reason to come outside more often. Not to the greenhouse though. I still want to find a better place to get away from Umbridge and Filch."

"Hagrid's cabin?"

"I'm not sure he's got space for me to grow mushrooms. It's getting cold out anyhow, do mushrooms really grow in the winter?"

"Greenhouse," Neville teased, still trying to convince him.

Harry caught sight of the Quidditch Pitch in the distance then and said, "What about the Pitch? She hasn't followed me out there for a while, and she knows I've been going to practices to watch the team."

They abandoned their trek to the lake and turned towards the Pitch just as the sky opened up and began to sprinkle.

"Are you thinking of the changing rooms?" Neville asked. "Or the upper stands? The boxes the teacher's sit in are covered, but there'd be no guarantee someone wouldn't come and mess with what you're growing."

"No," Harry said. They picked up their pace, wanting to get out of the rain. By the time they made the Pitch there was a full drizzle.

"Wait, aren't we going inside?" Neville asked when Harry turned from the entrance and started walking around the outside.

"I was thinking we might find a good spot to sneak underneath." He began looking for a rip in the heavy canvas fabric that covered the underside of the Pitch on the inside and outside. He'd never seen under the Pitch, but assumed it was just framed out with wood, and wasn't a solid stone structure like the castle.

As they circled, still not finding any openings in the fabric, they came around to the spot where the Gryffindor changing rooms were. Harry knew the changing rooms were there because there was Gryffindor fabric on both sides of the wooden structure which they could see from the outside. "Here, help me with this," he said. He put his fingers behind a piece of the Gryffindor canvas and pulled, hoping to dislodge it without ripping it. He didn't want to vandalize the Pitch, he just wanted to get underneath.

Neville pulled too and after a good tug the bottom corner of the canvas came away from where it had been nailed into the wood frame, and Harry and Neville climbed underneath, lighting their wands to give them light. They were soaking wet and glad for the shelter.

"Here's the wall of the Gryffindor changing room," Harry said, knocking on the only solid wood wall. On either side of them was canvas which kept the wind and rain out. The canvas was attached to heavy wooden beams that framed in the structure of the Pitch, and high above them there was a wooden ceiling, which Harry assumed was the floor of the stands students sat in to watch matches. There was a hole in the ceiling that let a little light in, though not enough to really see by, and dirt under their feet, along with a few loose boards that had fallen from high up at some point and were on the ground.

"This could work actually," Neville said, looking around. "I mean, you couldn't keep it warm like a greenhouse, but fungus doesn't necessarily need sunlight to grow since it doesn't get its energy from photosynthesis. You'd just need a plant or some rotting wood for the mushrooms to eat away at."

"I thought you said you didn't know much about mushrooms," Harry said with a grin.

"Well, not as much as I know about hybridizing plants. I'll have to find a book about it."

"If you do, I'd like to read it. I've been keeping out of the library."

"Now we just need a mushroom to start us off. What was it called, the one you wanted to grow?"

"Shaggy inkcap."

After twenty minutes, the rain slowed down and they headed back out of their makeshift shelter. Harry used his wand to stick the flap of canvas back down to the wood again to make sure it didn't flap in the wind and rip or let water into the little hideaway under the Pitch.

Before they got back to the castle, Neville agreed to find a book from the library about propagating mushrooms and other types of fungus, and Harry decided to ask Snape about shaggy inkcap, or if he had a book about more types of fungus. He was known for growing mushrooms so Harry hoped he'd have a book and not question Harry too much about his interest in it.

Harry went to Potions lab Saturday with Hermione and practiced the potion he'd failed Thursday in class, and after the lab was over he approached Snape.

"Sir?"

"Yes Potter."

"My apprentice book has a lot of information about mushrooms, but do you know of a book I could look through that has information on all mushrooms? Soren and Leighton said you were known for growing and selling them."

"Flourishing Fungus," he said. "It does not list all types but has enough information on common funguses found in this hemisphere to be useful."

"Is that in the library?" Harry asked.

He motioned for Harry to follow him out of the classroom, and led him to his quarters. Harry tried not to think about the last time he'd been here, sitting on the man's bathroom floor badly burned.

"What's your interest in fungus Potter?" he asked after they'd made it inside his quarters. He moved for one of several bookshelves in the living room and began looking through the titles. Harry was interested to see that he had shelves that were dedicated to subjects other than potions as well. There was even a bookcase full of defense books he wished he could look through.

"I was reading about defensive chimaeric potions," he said. "There's a few mushrooms they mention over and over and they're not in my apprentice book."

"Shaggy inkcap," Snape said.

"Yes sir."

"I have seen it growing on the grounds near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, usually up against boulders in grassy areas."

"Oh."

"Yellow Staghorn is also used frequently in chimaeric potions. That is found deep in the Forbidden Forest. There is also Lilac Bonnet, usually found growing under beech trees. I have not seen any of that on school grounds though I do have a jar of dried lilac bonnet in my private lab." He found the book he was looking for, and pulled it off the shelf.

"This is my personal copy and I expect to get it back in the same condition it was loaned to you."

"Yes sir."

He handed the book to Harry and then turned to his desk which was up against a wall by the door leading back into the corridor. There was a package on top wrapped in twine. He picked that up and handed it to Harry as well. "Your new apprentice gloves. They came by owl this morning."

"Thank you," Harry said.

"Now that they have arrived, we will attempt the caustic potion that led to the accident again."

Harry looked up at him and Severus looked away at the fear he found in Harry's eyes.

"We will approach the potion with caution, and you will not be burned again."

Harry looked down and bit his lip. He didn't want to work with caustic potions ever again. Once was more than enough.

"Say what you have to say," Severus said.

"Do we have to?"

"Are you asking because you are afraid of another accident?"

Harry shrugged.

"There are several caustic potions on the NEWT examination that are taught in seventh year. You will have to prepare caustic potions again at some point. It is best if we attempt this potion again and that you learn how to handle the ingredients properly." Despite the dunderheaded moves the first and second years often made in potions, it was the seventh years that were injured the most often in potions class. Two years prior a seventh year had made his potion explode by adding the wrong thing and his entire seventh year NEWT class had been splattered by a caustic potion. No one had escaped being burned, though the splatters were small and easily treatable compared to what Harry had experienced. He couldn't say he blamed the boy for not wanting to brew with caustic ingredients anymore, but the best way over his fear was to start brewing them again right away.

"Yes sir."

"We will not attempt it today. Perhaps after Halloween."

The boy seemed to have let the tension out of his shoulders after being told they weren't attempting the potion again right away.

He dismissed Harry and Harry left with the book and new gloves. Back in his dorm that evening Harry opened the package and was surprised when he found that the new pair of gloves was thin like Snape's and soft. They were brown but made of a different material than Harry's old apprentice gloves had been. Just like his previous pair of apprentice gloves, this one came with a card with information about them.

Master Grade Dragonhide Gloves
Burn proof up to grade seven caustic ingredients and grade 5 caustic potions.
Made from the leather of a fire breathing Wyvern named Torvik that once tormented the residents of Hattarvík in the Northern Faroe Islands.
No dragons were harmed to procure the leather for these gloves.

Harry was stunned. Student grade dragonhide gloves cost two Galleons. Apprentice grade dragonhide gloves cost five. He couldn't imagine what these must have cost Snape and wasn't certain why the man would buy them for him. He was required to get him new gloves, but he could have bought student grade ones for him like the rest of his friends had, or even just found a pair of used apprentice gloves since they were so expensive.

Harry pulled them on. They felt just like the ones Snape had but were different in their own way. These were smaller than Snape's and fit Harry's hands better. When Harry brought them closer to examine the leather further he found that the leather glistened in the light... it was as if something embedded deep within the leather was sparkling red.

Harry had never really had many nice things before. He had his father's invisibility cloak, which shimmered like these gloves, and the Firebolt from Sirius which he was now banned from using. Along with his photo album of his parents, those were his most prized possessions. They'd been given to him by people he loved, who loved him in return. Harry didn't love Snape, and he actually laughed out loud there alone in the dorms at the thought that Snape cared about him at all, but the gloves meant something to him nonetheless. Maybe it wasn't fair to say Snape didn't care at all. These gloves were made to keep brewers safe from caustic potions and ingredients. After the incident two weeks ago, he clearly didn't want to see Harry burned again if he had bought these. Perhaps it had been just as traumatic for Snape to treat the burns as it had been for Harry to receive them. Whether he cared about Harry not getting burned or not, Harry couldn't help but feel like these gloves were now amongst his prized possessions. He'd certainly feel safer wearing them when brewing with caustic ingredients.

Harry lay back on his bed, still wearing the gloves and held them up to look at again. The dormitory door opened and Dean came in. "What've you got there?" he asked curiously.

"New dragonhide gloves."

"Oh yeah," he said, "because your old ones got ruined?" Dean came over and looked and then whistled. "Where'd you buy them from?"

"I didn't," Harry said. "My potions master has to provide them for me."

Everyone knew Harry was a potions apprentice now, but few knew that Snape was the one he'd been apprenticed to. Some of the other kids had questioned why Harry had been made to brew in Snape's private lab after he'd been burned, but Harry had only told them it was part of his apprenticeship. It made sense to them given that Snape was the castle's resident potions master.

"Well they're nice," Dean said with a smile. "I'm glad you've got nice things this year." He moved off to his wardrobe to get ready for bed. Like the other boys in the dorm Dean had frequently brought extra clothes from home for Harry to wear each year knowing he had nothing decent. This year he'd even brought a few extra notebooks and a pack of Muggle pencils for Harry. Harry had explained at the start of the year that he had all he needed now but Dean had told him, ‘My mum picked those out just for you. You keep them. She'd want you to use them.'

When Seamus came in a minute later and kept his eyes resolutely in the opposite direction of Harry, the stark contrast between he and Dean made Harry sad. He missed joking around with Seamus. He wasn't friends with Dean and Seamus like he was with Ron and like he was becoming with Neville, but they had all gotten along well together before now. Now Seamus ignored him, and if he couldn't he snapped at him or acted like Harry was an annoyance. He wasn't calling him names or saying, ‘Potter sucks,' every time Harry passed like the Hufflepuffs did on a daily basis, but it still made Harry sad that he had lost a friend. He supposed he deserved it, because he had made a lot of people lose a friend when he had let Cedric die.

Harry took off his new gloves and stuck them in his bag so they'd be ready to go to potion's class Monday morning. In the last six months life had changed for him in so many ways, and he wasn't certain he could find a single way that was good, though the gloves stayed on his mind as he drifted off to sleep. In his dreams that night he wore the new gloves and fought off a Wyvern on some distant storm ravaged island in the middle of the sea. "That's my hide you're wearing protecting your hands from the flames of my breath," the Wyvern told him in a break in the battle. "Why fight me so hard?" Harry didn't know, and forgot the dream as soon as he woke the next morning.

Hermione was too busy with her studies and the big project that was due in Arithmancy a few days after Halloween, so Harry left her to stress out on her own and took to the grounds with Neville. He used the time they searched the grassy areas along the outer edge of the Forbidden Forest to quiz Neville on the OWL list for potions as he'd promised earlier in the term, and felt like it was a bonus that he was able to get out of the castle and away from Umbridge at the same time, despite not finding any shaggy inkcap in the two weeks they searched for it. What they did find was a patch of scarlet elf cap, which Harry thought he might like to grow because it was used in two of the chimaeric fire potions, and a patch of sulphur tuft which Harry could find a use for but didn't want to collect to grow as it was poisonous to the touch. There were numerous other common mushrooms and fungi that they found, and Neville grew more and more excited each time they went out and found something new. After their second trip out Neville started to bring a notebook and always-inked quill with him so he could catalog what they found and where. Harry was impressed with the quick sketches the boy made of each mushroom they found, though Neville also documented other plants and almost always had some information to give Harry on each.

As Halloween drew closer, Ron grew more and more nervous for his first ever match, which was against Slytherin. It would be Ginny's first match as well.

"You're going to be there, right Harry?" Ron asked, sounding nervous. "I mean, Ginny will be disappointed if you're not."

"What has Ginny said about it?" Harry asked. He'd made himself so scarce in the last few weeks that he'd barely seen her aside from at meal times. Sometimes he and Neville skipped dinner to get outside earlier as it was growing darker earlier now and they weren't allowed out after sunset.

"Nothing," Ron said. "But she would be, don't you think?"

"I'll be there," Harry said. "You'll be fine. The Slytherin Beaters aren't much good." Harry had seen them practicing the day before when he was out mushroom hunting. He and Neville had circled the outside of the Pitch looking for shaggy inkcap.

"Beaters?" Ron said, "It's the Chasers I'm worried about! They're wicked fast!"

"They're the same speed as our Chasers," Harry told him. "Is Ginny worried about going up against Draco?"

"She said she'd cob him if he was being a jerk." Ron paused for a minute and said, "If you ask me I think she's got a crush on him. She's been talking about him an awful lot lately."

Harry choked and spit out the mouthful of pumpkin juice he'd just taken a drink of. It sprayed all the way across Gryffindor table and onto Neville and his notebook of items they'd been foraging for. People around them burst out laughing and Neville sat there looking shocked for a moment. Harry stared at him for long moments, realizing what he'd just done. "Neville- I-" Harry was at a loss for words for a moment until he remembered what had made him choke in the first place. He turned to Ron next to him and said, "She has a crush on who?"

Neville took a napkin and started to dab at his notebook and Harry stood up and reached across to help, pulling out his wand to send a drying spell across the table. "Sorry Neville, really," he said quickly before turning back to Ron.

"S'alright," Neville said, "I just wasn't expecting a shower this afternoon is all."

Ron was staring at Harry and then grinned at him. "If she does or if she doesn't, I don't know. Funny that you were so offended by it though mate."

"What? Why?"

"Just sayin'," Ron said with a shrug and turned back to his food.

Harry relaxed a little and turned back to his meal as well. A minute later Hermione came down the table, late to lunch because she'd been talking with Professor Vector about the topic of her research paper. She sat down next to Neville, said, "Why is the table all wet?" and turned to see that Neville's shirt was wet as well and asked, "What happened to you?"

Neville and Ron both looked at Harry, whose face was red now, and Harry said, "Can we not talk about this?"

Ron burst out laughing again and Neville said, "It was raining pumpkin juice."

"I'll tell you later," Ron told her, grinning into his sandwich.

* * *

Harry wanted to go to the Gryffindor Slytherin Quidditch match on Halloween to support his friends, but found out the day before that his Potions Master had made other plans.

Severus had received an owl late Thursday night from Master Edric Edton asking if Harry would be available to help Soren collect a unique potion ingredient in a remote location in the north of Scotland on Halloween. Soren would be collecting umbra shade, which was valuable, and quite harmless as far as potions ingredients went, but was a two person job. Edric had an event he had to attend that day, and the collection of umbra shade was apprentice work in any case, so they'd requested Harry's help. If Harry could help Soren, he'd get half of everything collected that day.

Because of the unique position Harry and Severus were in as a master and student apprentice, Severus had the ability to take Harry off of school grounds at any time, even during the school year. He could even have Harry miss classes if there was work to be done towards the apprenticeship. Severus had decided as soon as he'd taken Harry on that Harry wouldn't be missing school for the apprenticeship because he should continue to be treated like any other student, or he'd grow even more full of himself. He had envisioned the boy lording his station as a student apprentice over his classmates, and didn't want the boy to have a bigger head than he already did being The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Since school had started however, Severus had to admit the child was having a rough term. He'd lost Quidditch, which Severus wasn't opposed to. He thought Quidditch was a waste of time anyway, though he understood how important it was to the children who played and watched the sport. Beyond losing Quidditch however, the boy had also been burned in the potions accident, and had been hounded relentlessly by Umbridge.

Severus had kept a close eye on the situation, as had the other staff. It drove Minerva mad to know that Umbridge had Filch following the boy when he was in the castle, and had practically banned him from entering the defense section of the library.

"She even had Filch throw the boy out of the greenhouses when he was there checking on Mr. Longbottom's extracurricular student project with him! It doesn't matter that Pomona doesn't mind Harry being in there," Minerva had ranted privately to Severus and Albus the week before, "she's determined that he should be miserable and he's spent most of the term inside Gryffindor tower. At least Mr. Longbottom has gotten him out of the castle some in the last few days."

Severus kept track of Harry's potions progress in class and in the Saturday labs the boy saw fit to attend, as well as his overall health, but he hadn't kept track of the boy's general wellbeing like Minerva did since he was one of her lions. He hadn't been aware that Potter and Longbottom had been spending a majority of their free time outside until Minerva had said something about it, but it was easy to see why he was with how closely Umbridge had been keeping tabs on him.

He supposed it wouldn't make Potter's head swell too much if he allowed the child a brief break from Umbridge by having him go to help Soren collect umbra shade. Edric had asked him as a personal favor, and it would benefit Harry in that he would get a chance to learn how to collect umbra shade and what it was used for, with the added benefit of getting him out of the castle for the day. He penned a quick letter back to Edric and sent it off late Thursday night, and then found Harry the next day at dinner and had him leave the Great Hall and follow him into the Entrance Hall so he could have a word with him privately.

"There is apprentice work to be done tonight and tomorrow," Severus told him, and was dismayed to see the boy's shoulders slump forward and his face fall.

"What are we brewing sir?"

"We are not. Master Edric and Soren have requested your presence to help collect umbra shade in a haunted location in the north of Scotland."

"Umbra shade?"

"Slime left behind by ghosts. It can be collected at any time, but is of the best quality and is the most plentiful on All Hallows Eve. This is a prime opportunity to-" he paused and looked around to be sure they were alone, lowered his voice and said, "keep yourself out of trouble and out from under the watchful eye of Umbridge."

Harry stood up straight. He was letting him out of the castle for a day to get him away from Umbridge? He must know something he didn't. Umbridge must have been planning to come down hard on him the next day on Halloween. If that was the case, Harry would probably miss the Quidditch match and the Halloween feast. He supposed it would be better to miss those events on his own terms then, though Ron would be disappointed. Harry was disappointed too. He'd been looking forward to the match and then to stocking up on candy. Every year on Halloween staff hid candy around the castle. It was spelled to stick to the underside of tables and benches, to be found floating in the air in corridors, and one year Harry even found a chocolate bar under his pillow when he woke up on the morning of Halloween. Harry never got candy at home and tried to collect as much as he could on Halloween while at school. It was like an Easter egg hunt for him, though he'd never been allowed to participate in that activity as a child either.

"After you are finished with dinner, go to your dormitory and pack your dragonhide gloves into your bag along with a change of clothes and a sweater. You will also need another sweater to wear. You are leaving at eleven tonight. You have permission for tonight only to be out after the nine pm fifth year curfew. You are to meet me here in the Entrance Hall at five minutes to eleven."

"Yes sir." Harry went back into the Great Hall and sat down with Ron, who was just finishing up his meal.

"I have bad news."

"What, you get detention or something?"

"I can't come to the Quidditch match tomorrow."

"What?" Ron's shoulders fell. "What did you get detention for?"

"I didn't. I'm being shipped off to help gather potions ingredients at eleven tonight and for all day tomorrow."

"But the feast," Ron said.

Harry let his shoulders slump forward too. "I know."

"What's so important that it can't wait til' after tomorrow?"

"Ghost slime," Harry said. "I'm going to some sort of haunted house to collect it. I have to pack after dinner and meet Snape in the Entrance Hall at eleven. I'll be there with another apprentice I met this summer and his master."

Ron set his fork down and stared at him. "Let me get this straight," he said. "You get permission to leave the castle during the school year, to go to a haunted house on Halloween, to hang out with another apprentice?"

"Yeah," Harry said, feeling bummed out about it.

"Are you crazy?" Ron said enthusiastically. "I'd kill to get to leave during the school year or to get to go check out a haunted house. You get to go to a haunted house on Halloween! I can't come can I?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I can leave school because I'm a student apprentice. There's different rules." Harry hadn't looked at it in that light. He was happy to be getting away from Umbridge, but he hadn't thought of it as an adventure like Ron seemed to.

"What's the ghost slime used for anyway?"

"It's called umbra shade. I don't know. I guess I'll find out tonight."

While Harry packed later that evening, Hermione sat at his and Ron's shared desk and searched through Harry's apprentice books to see if she could find umbra shade. Coming up the boy's stairwell and into their dormitory was the one rule she frequently ignored and didn't seem to mind breaking. Ron stood behind her and looked over her shoulder as she searched for it.

"Here it is," Hermione said. "Umbra shade. It's... oh. It's quite, um... interesting."

Harry looked up at them as he pulled a hoodie on over his t-shirt. "What? What is it?"

Ron laughed. "It's ghost poop."

"What?"

"He's not wrong," Hermione said.

"Let me see that," Harry said, holding out his hand for the book on ingredients, and she pulled the book to her chest as if it was precious to her. "I'll read it out loud," she said. "Then we can all hear it." Harry grinned at her. She preferred always being the first to learn new information and didn't want him to read it to himself while she was left waiting to learn what secrets the pages of his apprentice book held.

"Ok then," Harry motioned, and turned his back to stuff an extra pair of clothes into his bag along with another sweater and his new dragonhide gloves.

"Disgruntled spirits known as shades are known to emit a glowing white transparent gelatinous substance known as umbra." She paused and looked up at Harry and said, "That doesn't make any sense. Why not call it shade umbra then?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. I noticed some potions ingredients are named backwards like that."

"Umbra shade has many uses," she continued reading, "such as in potions that are used to emit light, to ward off darkness (including dark magic), and in potions used to alter moods in a fundamentally negative way." She looked up again, thoughtful. "Odd," she said. "It's used in potions that would make people feel depressed, but does the opposite in other potions as it wards off darkness." She shook her head at the mystery of it and kept reading as Harry double checked that his new gloves were in the bag and zipped it up. "Shades appear most frequently in densely haunted locations on All Hallows Eve, when the veil between realms thins, and they come to this realm to express their negative thoughts and feelings to us. In doing so their negative thoughts and feelings pass out of them and into this world as glowing umbra, which only lasts for a few minutes before sinking back into the realm of the undead if it is not collected into glass containers, which can hold the umbra here indefinitely."

"So Harry's gonna be out collecting ghost poop all night," Ron said.

Hermione kept reading as there was a diagram showing the umbra passing out of the ghosts, and didn't comment. It was this diagram which had made Ron call it ghost poop.

Since it was a Friday night most of the house was staying up late and was down in the common room talking and playing games. Since the other boys were down in the common room, Harry, Ron and Hermione were able to sit in the boys dormitory until ten thirty when Neville came upstairs to get ready for bed.

After leaving the dorm and chatting in the common room for a few more minutes, Harry told them he'd see them the next day and left to go meet Snape in the Entrance Hall.

"Try to be back for the feast at least!" Ron shouted after him as the portrait hole door closed.

Harry crossed paths with a pair of patrolling Prefects, one Slytherin and one Ravenclaw, but they didn't give him any trouble or question why he was out after curfew. He was only glad when he made it down to the Entrance Hall without running into Umbridge or Filch, who seemed to be taking the night off. He arrived a few minutes early and sat down on the steps leading up to the first floor to wait for Snape.

When Snape arrived, he didn't have a bag like Harry did.

"Potter," Snape greeted him. "Do you have the items I told you to pack?"

"Yes sir."

"Including your gloves?"

"Yes sir."

"I will be apparating you to Soren's location. Come, we must get down to the edge of the grounds."

He unlocked the heavy wooden front doors, and once they were outside locked them again with a spell Harry didn't know. The air was chilly as they walked down the dirt drive and Harry was thankful it wasn't snowing yet, or windy and raining as it had been off and on for the last few weeks.

"Master Edric will not be there, though he may check in with the two of you from time to time," Severus said. "Soren has no authority over you as you are both apprentices, but I am telling you now that you are to obey him as he is in charge of this operation."

"Yes sir."

"I will be back to collect you tomorrow at five pm, though if you are done early or if there is an emergency, Soren or Master Edric will apparate you back here, or to medical care though I do not expect there to be a need for that as umbra shade is not inherently dangerous."

"Hermione wants to know why it's called umbra shade and not shade umbra."

"The term initially came from another language, in which words came in a different order. It was called ‘umbra of the shade'."

When they had almost reached the school boundary Snape said, "You will do what Soren says in regards to collecting umbra shade. He has done this before and knows what needs to be done."

"Yes sir."

At the boundary Snape gripped his arm at the elbow and apparated him away appearing on a dark hill a moment later in the middle of nowhere. There was a breeze here and it chilled Harry as it hit his neck, causing him to pull his hood up over his head.

"Ho!" Snape called out into the darkness, lighting his wand so they could see.

"Ho! Here!" came Soren's voice, and they saw his wand light bobbing up towards them over the hill.

"Master Snape, Harry," Soren greeted them with a smile. His hair was wild and unbrushed just like the last time Harry had seen him, and Harry wondered if it was because it was so windy out.

"Has it started yet?" Snape asked.

"Not for another half hour still. The walls have been creaking something fierce as the veil thins," Soren said, and there's a glow spilling out from under the stairs."

"Will Master Edric be by tonight?"

Soren shook his head. "Perhaps by lunch tomorrow," he said.

Snape gave Harry a pointed look and told him, "As I said."

Harry gave him a nod to let him know he'd do as he was told and listen to Soren, and Snape apparated away with a pop.

"This way," Soren said, and led off down the hill. "You've got an extra change of clothes, right?" Soren asked.

"Yeah, in my bag."

"Good, you're gonna need em."

"Why?"

"You'll be filthy in no time," he said. He canceled his lumos charm and continued on in the dark. Harry followed him by sound alone for a few moments as his eyes adjusted. "Can't have wand light near the house," Soren explained. "That's why you had to apparate in a ways away. We can have a fire but that's the only light we get or it'll disturb the umbra shade. The umbra shade will glow enough for us to see inside the house when it's time to start collecting."

He led Harry to a fire ring which had a fire banked low. It was giving off just enough light for Harry to find his way to a folding camp chair. There was a small tent beside the fire, and another chair which Soren sat down in. Behind Soren, a wooden cabin in the later stages of decay looked ready to fall down as it creaked and groaned.

"Don't mind the noise," Soren said. "Veil's thinning and shades are trying to pass through. We'll know when they get here."

"How?" Harry asked.

"Trust me," he said with a grin. "We've got time anyway. Want a cup of coffee?"

"Sure," Harry said. Soren leaned over and opened a box next to his chair and pulled out two mugs. There was a pot of coffee in the box too and he poured a cup for both of them. When Harry took a drink his face lit up. It was mocha, hot and creamy and full of too much chocolate. Soren drank his coffee like Ron did. Harry reveled in the warmth and wrapped his hands around it.

"Master Snape explain to you about shades and umbra?" Soren asked.

Harry recounted to him what he'd learned from his apprentice book before leaving school.

"You'll wear your gloves to help keep your hands clean. The umbra shade isn't going to hurt you, but it's hard to wash off your hands. It won't stick to dragonhide though. Try not to get it in your mouth. It's got an awful taste and it'll make you feel a sense of doom like the world's about to end for about ten minutes afterwards if you do."

The dark cabin groaned and creaked and gave a shudder, but Soren ignored it.

"You'll use your gloves or the pitcher I'll give you to collect the umbra shade," he said. "Just get as much as you can into the pitcher. When the pitcher's full you bring it out here and dump it into the big glass jars." He pointed to a row of glass jars a few feet from the fire. They looked like they would each hold a gallon of liquid. "We've got more in the crates over there," Soren said, pointing.

"Biggest obstacle is going to be the shades throwing a fit," he said. "It's a two person job because they're like toddlers throwing a tantrum, or like older kids pulling a prank. They'll try to lift you up into the air or drag you across the floor. If you get into trouble just shout for me and I'll come get you. And if I get into trouble you come and get me."

At Harry's wide eyes Soren laughed. "You might get some bumps and bruises, but they won't really harm you. They won't drag you back across the veil or lift you high into the air and drop you or anything like that. This is one of the best nights of the year for apprentices. Apprentices across the aisles are gathering at haunted spots like this one to take advantage of all the umbra shade there is to be collected. Biggest harvest will be just after the shades break through the veil, that's why we start at midnight tonight. Harvesting will be good til' morning. Then we'll get a chance to rest and clean up a bit and we can start again around lunch tomorrow and collect til' it's time for you to go back to school. I think Master Snape said you had to be back by the feast."

"I didn't realize," Harry said.

The cabin gave a particularly loud groan and Harry thought he heard a woman scream in the distance, but couldn't be sure.

"Almost time," Soren said, looking at his watch. "There's not too much you can do to a shade with magic that will scare it off or make it leave you alone. There's a wind spell, you know it?"

Harry nodded.

"That'll push a shade away, but only for a moment. Best thing to do is keep in good humor about the whole thing. Most of the shades will like that. They'll mess with you, but if you're in bad humor they'll take it personally."

Even with all that Soren had told him in the half hour since he'd arrived, Harry had no idea what to expect once the ‘event' started. He just couldn't wrap his mind around what was being described to him.

Suddenly there was a loud shaking noise, followed by an explosive sound mixed with what sounded like a dozen screams, and a bright light flashed out of the rotting cabin through the windows and cracks in the wooden walls. Harry startled and almost spilled his mocha.

"See, told you you'd know when they were here," Soren said with a grin. "Come on, get your gloves on and put your wand where you can get to it fast."

They got their gloves on and Soren went and pulled the lids off of one of the huge glass jars. Then he handed Harry a plastic pitcher.

"You lose that one, come get another one," Soren said. "There's a dozen right here. Shades will try to get that one from you pretty fast. We'll collect the lost pitchers as we find em again. Got any questions?"

"A million," Harry said, and Soren laughed. "Let's go. Best collecting is right now as they're letting loose in there."

Harry eyed the cabin wearily. Lights were flashing and zipping around inside, there were screams and thumps and scrapes, and the broken glass in the window panes was rattling. It sounded like the ghosts inside were having a horrifying party of some sort. He wasn't keen on going in, and thought that if Ron were there he wouldn't be keen on it either.

"I'll step in first," Soren said. "Remember, be in a good humor about it and you'll be fine."

Harry followed him to the door, muscles tensed, and waited. Soren had barely stepped foot over the threshold when a ghost, barely visible, grabbed the front of his shirt and jerked him inside.

"SOREN!" Harry yelled, running to the door frame, but Soren had disappeared into the darkness and didn't answer back right away.

"It's fine!" Soren called from somewhere deep within the cabin. It sounded like he might have been taken upstairs. "I'm fine!" he called again, though it sounded like he was being dragged around as he called out to Harry.

Harry wanted to light his wand to go into the cabin, but remembered that he couldn't. There were flashing lights inside and he thought that might have to be enough light for him to go by until daylight.

He took a step over the threshold and noted that there were globs of an iridescent white glowing goop in random places on the floor and clinging to the walls.

"YEEEEEEE!" Something screamed with a female voice as a bright flash of light zipped in front of Harry's face and slammed itself into the wall next to Harry's head with a loud thud. He jumped and almost tripped backwards over some broken bits of wood onto the floor. Where the light had hit the wall, Harry found a glob of the glowing umbra shade. Remembering for the first time since he'd stepped up to the cabin that he was here to collect the glowing goop, Harry took the plastic pitcher and slid it up under the goop and scooped upward, allowing the goop to fall into his pitcher. It felt like nothing at all was inside as no weight had been added. A faint light was coming up out of the pitcher now as the sticky goop clung to the bottom of it.

"AHAHAHA!" Another female voice different from the last screamed in glee behind him and Harry jumped and spun around, only to see the empty door he'd entered through a minute before.

Heart pounding, Harry tried to breath and calm himself, and wondered if Soren was still alive as he took another step into the cabin, and then another. He stopped for a moment to scoop up a glob of umbra shade from the floor and then yelped as a hand grabbed his ankle. He spun to see what had him, but there was nothing there, not even a flash of light, and he couldn't feel anything holding his ankle anymore.

"Tryna get me," Harry mumbled, and backed up against a wall with a broken window. The fire was crackling in the fire ring outside.

"Hey!"

Harry startled as Soren appeared from the broken down wooden stairs, pitcher full of umbra shade glowing brightly.

"Calm down," Soren laughed. "Swap me pitchers and take this one outside and dump it in the jar. Put the lid back on the jar when you're done so it doesn't dissolve."

Harry traded him pitchers and practically ran from the house, only stopping to breathe again when he was back by the fire ring. All too soon he was back inside with the empty pitcher. He had barely stepped in when something grabbed the pitcher and yanked it out of his hands, throwing it across the cabin and into the darkness where Harry lost sight of it in a pile of rubble. "Ok, don't want me to have that one," he said, and went back out to the pile of pitchers by the fire and got a new one. He held tightly to this one as he stepped inside the cabin for a third time that night. He jumped a moment later when Soren shouted in surprise from his spot on the stairs where he had stopped to collect umbra shade. Something had grabbed him and was hauling him across the cabin at a quick clip. Instead of acting frightened, Soren allowed himself to be dragged along the floor and flipped his pitcher over so he could drag it along the floorboards and scoop up umbra as he went.

"Over there!" Soren said, and Harry was surprised when whatever shade had him dragged him to the part of the large room Soren had been looking at. When he had scooped up a massive blob of glowing umbra shade, it seemed the ride had ended as Soren stopped moving abruptly. He picked himself up and came to Harry and slapped him on the back. "That one's friendly!" he said, and left the cabin to take his haul to the glass jar.

Harry looked around at all the glowing umbra shade on the walls and took a breath. He could do this. He was creeped out, not sure when something would grab him or steal his pitcher or try to scare him by screaming as it flew by, but he could do this. It wasn't as bad as he had thought twenty minutes ago at the start of it all.

He made a dash for a large blob of umbra shade that looked like it alone would fill his pitcher, but something grabbed the back of his shirt, holding him in place, and then let him go abruptly as he pulled against it, so he went stumbling forward, landing face first inches from the blob. Not waiting to be grabbed again, Harry scooped it all up, using one gloved hand to hold it all in as the pitcher was overflowing, and got up and ran out of the house.

"Whoa! Good haul!" Soren said passing him on his way back in.

On his next trip into the house a female shade screamed again, "YAAAAAA!" and slammed into his back, knocking him forward, and Soren had to help collect the sticky umbra shade from the back of his hoodie before he could continue on.

There was a lot of thumping upstairs followed by a loud groan and then raucous high pitched laughter, and Soren and Harry looked up at the ceiling. "Most of them are up there," Soren said. "I'm going up to collect what they're leaving. You coming?"

Harry nodded and followed up the broken stairs, careful not to trip as he didn't want to slam his face into them. Upstairs was a single large room with two windows, one looking out towards the fire and tent, and another looking out to the back side of the cabin.

Several bright lights flashed past Harry and Soren as they entered the room and raced down the stairs.

"Over there," Soren said, pointing to the broken window looking out the back of the cabin, and Harry went to collect a large glob sliding down the wall. He looked up into the broken glass of the window and was surprised to see the face of a ghostly teal spectre. He turned quickly but didn't see anything behind him, not even a light. Goosebumps covering his arms, Harry looked back at the broken glass in the window and found the spectre still there behind him, watching him.

"I'm just gonna collect this if it's ok with you," Harry said. The reflection of the ghost didn't move and Harry filled his pitcher and went back downstairs and out to the glass jar. Curious, he went up to the window in the downstairs room facing the fire from the outside and looked in, trying to look through the shards of broken glass, though there were only a few pieces remaining in this window. What he saw surprised him. Through the glass he could clearly see the teal ghosts of two women and the white ghost of a man sitting at a ghostly table and having tea. They were right above the spot where there was the wreckage of an actual broken table in pieces on the floor.

Another ghost flew by, and Harry had to shift his position to keep it framed within the shard of broken glass. This ghost flew right at a wall, hit it, left a glowing splotch of umbra shade, then turned and flew up the wall into the ceiling and proceeded to zip around the room. Soren came down the stairs and Harry shifted to watch him through the broken glass too. Another teal ghost was following him down the steps and right as he reached the bottom it nudged him in the back with his elbow. Soren stumbled but caught himself and said, "Good one. Almost got me there," and came out the front door.

"All right there?" he asked Harry.

"That guy nudged you with his elbow and then laughed," Harry told him.

"Yeah, felt that," he said. "See you figured out the window thing. It doesn't work with all glass you know. Has to be a glass window. They say looking into a haunted house through a glass window is like looking into the soul of the home itself. You know, because the soul of a haunted home are the ghostly inhabitants."

"Who are they?" Harry asked. "Did they live here?"

Soren shrugged. "Maybe. This is one of the more haunted spots in Scotland. There are a dozen just like this in the highlands. Fact is any shades that want to can pop out of the veil in this spot on this night, or on other nights when the veil thins. Could be just one person that lived here and a bunch of their shade friends come to party and scare the pants off us all night." Soren grinned.

"But," Harry looked back through the large shard of glass. "They look pretty happy. I mean, they're having tea in that corner and chatting... smiling. I thought shades were disgruntled spirits."

"Sure they are," Soren said. "They're ornery to be sure. Most of them are disgruntled... unhappy to be dead, you know? Angry with the way they died, or maybe upset with how their life turned out. They're not just any ghosts, that's for sure, not like the Bloody Baron or Nearly Headless Nick. Those ghosts didn't come to term with death and so you see them pretty fully formed floating around the school since they're hanging on to this world. Shades are different. They know they're dead, they've come to terms with it, and decided to be ornery stinkers to everyone still living."

Harry gave one last look through the broken glass and then he and Soren went back inside. Now that Harry had seen some of them and what they looked like through the glass, and Soren had explained a bit more to him, he startled, but didn't get creeped out when a ghost loudly sneezed right by his ear and then blew across the hairs on the back of his neck, making them stand on end.

"I felt that," Harry told the ghost. It made a lot more sense to him now why Soren had told him to be in good humor about it all. The shades were out to scare them, startle them, and laugh at them, but not to hurt him. That knowledge made all the difference. It was like a house full of Fred and George Weasleys.

At three in the morning after Harry had called out to Soren to get him down from where what felt like two shades were holding him up against the wall close to the ceiling, they took a break and went outside to have some coffee and count how many jars of umbra shade they'd collected.

"Wow, ten, this is great," Soren said. "That's already five for each of us."

"The ghosts were busy in there," Harry said, sinking into his seat and pulling off his gloves so he could wrap his hands around his mug. A ghost screamed in that exact moment from inside louder than anything he'd heard that night, and Harry jerked and some of his coffee sloshed out over the side of his cup.

"Hey!" Harry said loudly. "Can't we get a break for a minute?"

The ghost screamed again in response and threw itself against the wall inside the house.

"See, not so bad, yeah?" Soren asked, sitting in his own chair. "Couple more hours and we'll have breakfast then go to bed for a while. He took a drink of his coffee and as he stirred the fire and added a log he said, "How's your apprenticeship been going? With Master Snape I mean."

"There was an accident. I got burned pretty bad on my hands."

"Caustic potion?" he asked, and Harry nodded.

"Master Snape bought me new master grade gloves made from the leather of a wyvern."

Soren whistled, eyes traveling to the gloves sitting across Harry's knee. "Bet that cost a pretty knut. I have high end apprentice grade gloves still. I have to buy my own materials. It's easier because I get paid since I'm over majority," he said. "Still, master grade gloves. Because yours are made from a wyvern they'll be good against caustic potions."

"Yeah, that's what the card said." Harry thought back to opening the gloves and remembered how it felt to realize he'd be safe from caustic potions in the future. "Why did they add to the card that no dragons were hurt to get the leather for the gloves?"

"Company that made yours harvested the leather from a dragon that was already dead from natural causes. It's actually illegal to kill dragons for any reason. Dragons are big and anything made from the leather of a wyvern would be expensive... not something average people would buy. The leather from a dead dragon would last a long time. It's possible your gloves were made from a dragon that died fifty, or even a hundred years ago. Who knows. Not too many wyverns about these days."

They stared into the fire for a few minutes and then Harry tensed up and said, "Soren."

"Yeah?"

"There's something touching my ear."

"Yeah," Soren said with a laugh. "It's Master Edric."

Harry let out a breath and relaxed and Edric came around and into Harry's view with a grin. His hair was messy like Soren's, and Harry wondered not for the first time if the two were related. Edric didn't greet them and instead went to look at the bounty of umbra shade.

"Ten jars, that's a good night's work," he said. He turned towards the fire and put his hands on his hips. "No broken bones? Just bruises and some good laughs?"

"They've had a grand time teasing Harry," Soren said. He offered Edric coffee but he held up his hand and declined.

"Just came to check on the two of you. Severus would have my head if I didn't and something happened to Harry." He gave Harry a close looking over, face stern and cast in sharp relief from the flickering flames of the low fire. Harry still couldn't get over how a person who always looked so grumpy could be friendly, but the man was. He let a small smile come over his face and asked Harry, "Been learning a lot? Not just here tonight, I mean from Severus. Been about four months now since you became an apprentice hasn't it?"

"I'm top of my class in potions right now."

Edric laughed. "I bet you are. First through seventh year potions really isn't that much to learn. You get through your first apprentice books and you'll have started towards a real knowledge of potions."

Harry had to agree with him. All the things he'd struggled with in potions previously seemed easy to him now, and he wondered frequently why he'd ever had difficulty with those things to begin with. He would have once blamed it on Snape, or even on Draco or other Slytherins throwing extra ingredients into his cauldron, but that couldn't explain why he'd never done well on homework or tests when all the basic knowledge was right there in his textbooks.

"The OWL examiner is giving extra credit for NEWT level potions this year," Harry said. "I've been practicing those."

Soren nodded. "I heard that happens when there's a student apprentice in any field. They want to gauge where the apprentice is at. If you're still an apprentice in your seventh year when you take NEWTs they'll have extra potions on that exam for you too."

"What do you mean if he's still an apprentice?" Edric asked.

Soren looked down into his coffee and Harry froze. After just a moment Soren looked back up though and said, "You know, not everyone continues after their first two years of apprenticeship. Some decide to head into a herbology apprenticeship or choose to study healing."

"Yeah, that's true," Edric agreed. "Takes a certain kind of person to keep on with potions until their mastery. Not nearly as many potions masters out there as healers, though there's not a lot of people with a mastery in herbology either."

"My friend Neville wants to do that," Harry said. "I told him he'd probably like potions, but he's struggled with it in school and is convinced he won't like it. He's been out cataloging all the fungus we find on school grounds the last two weeks. I've been helping him study for his potions OWL."

"Here's what you do," Edric said, finally reaching into a crate Harry hadn't looked into and pulling out another folding camp chair. "You get him to find and harvest and prepare all the ingredients for a potion that will really help him somehow... something he'll want, and then have him prepare the potion. He'll be hooked."

"Maybe," Harry said. He wasn't keen on pushing Neville into something he didn't want. Harry knew too well how that felt.

Master Edric and Soren chatted for a while longer, Master Edric asked Harry half a dozen questions about umbra shade, and then he told them he'd be back around lunch time the next day and walked up the hill and out of sight into the darkness so he could apparate away.

"Best get back to it," Soren said.

Harry stood up with him and said, "Erm... thanks. For not telling him I mean. You know."

"Yeah," Soren said. "Wouldn't look too good on your master if I told Edric how you came to be in this apprenticeship. Word gets around in the potions community." He gave Harry a close looking over and said, "I'm still banking on you coming to like this line of work. I think you'll stick with it. Leighton thinks you won't."

"I'm going to be an auror," Harry said, resolute in his desire to do what his father had done. Harry loved defense besides. He loved the movement of twisting and leaping and diving in a duel, and the adrenaline of blocking a spell before it could hit its target. As they went back into the house with their plastic pitchers though and a ghost startled him and then laughed only to get a short scream out of Soren, Harry couldn't deny that he was having fun there collecting ghost poop. For tonight he was a potions apprentice glad to be out of the castle and away from Umbrige. He was a potions apprentice who didn't have a worry on his mind other than that he was tired and ready for bed, and looking forward to collecting more glowing white slime again in the daylight.

* * *

They slept in the tent for six hours and woke just before eleven in the morning. It wasn't a particularly restful sleep as the ghosts inside the decaying cabin were still throwing a party, so the night was filled with thumps and bumps, creaks and groans, and wild flashes of light and laughter. Harry was happy to sleep in the borrowed sleeping bag however and to be protected from the wind by three sides of the canvas tent. The front of the little tent was open to the fire, and Harry had enjoyed the flickering and warmth from it as he'd drifted off to sleep.

When they woke at eleven they found cloudy skies, and what had been a spine chilling unknown to Harry the night before was now a well illuminated picture of rot and decay. Soren stirred the nearly dead coals of the fire and added new logs to bring it up to a comfortable crackling warmth, and he and Harry had a seat and stretched. There was a shout of glee from inside the cabin, and Harry, now used to it, ignored it.

"They're happy we woke up," Soren said, making a fresh pot of coffee and digging around in his box of food for something. He came up out of the box with two wrapped sandwiches and handed one to Harry. Some sort of stasis charm had been put on it to keep it fresh, and Harry happily accepted the ham sandwich and cup of coffee from Soren.

Master Edric returned to check on them just as they finished their food and had a seat by the fire.

"What time did you lads go to bed?" he asked.

"Five," Soren said. "Shades had settled down a little since the sun was coming up, so it was a good time to kip in the tent."

Edric nodded and reached into a bag he'd brought with him. "Not a proper All Hallows without something sweet," he said, and he pulled out two pastries filled with red jelly and cream and handed them to Harry and Soren.

"Thank you," Harry said. The pastry was delicious, and as Harry ate he took in the state of the cabin again. They were up in the hills somewhere and the cabin was nestled down between two hills that rose up sharply on either side. Tall overgrown grass and weeds surrounded their small encampment and pushed up against the rotting wood of the house. Some of the walls were slanted, the roof had gaping holes, and the front door was hanging on crookedly by one hinge. There were bits of busted up wood and broken glass all over the ground along the outer walls of the house. There were huge gaps between some of the wood planks that formed the walls, and moss and green mold or fungus had colored most of the wood green. As his eyes scanned the structure there was something else aside from rotting wood that he spotted. There in a pile of what looked like broken furniture outside one of the windows, covered in moss and grass, was a cluster of little ghostly white mushrooms with black around the gills. Shaggy inkcap. Harry was ready to leap up to collect the mushroom he and Neville had been searching for when Master Edric started speaking to him.

"Ever been to a place this haunted before?" Master Edric asked and Harry brought his eyes back around to their gathering around the fire.

"The Shrieking Shack," Harry said. "That's not really haunted though I don't think."

"Sure it is," Soren said. "Everyone who goes to Hogwarts knows that. Most haunted place in a hundred miles of Hogwarts."

"I was inside with my friends. They built it when my parents were in school so there was a place for a kid who was a werewolf to go on full moon nights. They told everyone it was haunted to keep kids and other people away from it so they wouldn't go out there when there was a werewolf transforming inside. Then on full moon nights when there were shrieks and howls it helped people believe it was haunted."

Soren and Edric both looked captivated to hear the story of it.

"How do you know?" Edric asked, taking a sip of his own coffee.

"My parents were friends with the kid who was a werewolf. I met him in my third year and he told me." Harry motioned towards the cabin and said, "This is way more haunted than we ever thought the Shrieking Shack was." A deep booming laugh came out of the cabin in response to what Harry had said.

When Master Edric began to talk to Soren about something they'd be collecting in a few days in the south of England, Harry rose and went to the pile of debris and carefully uprooted the little mushrooms. He stowed them in the outer pocket of his bag inside the tent and couldn't wait to get back to show Neville.

It was almost noon when they donned their dragonhide gloves again and went back inside to collect more umbra shade. The ghosts were delighted. Master Edric wasn't there to collect umbra shade, but had decided to go in for a few minutes to watch Harry and Soren work.

He'd only been standing in the entryway of the house for a few moments when he jumped forward and then turned and said, "Hey now, don't get fresh with me ghost."

Soren and Harry turned to look from where they'd been filling up four pitchers from a massive pile of umbra shade that had been accumulating in a corner, and Soren asked, "What'd they do?"

"I was grabbed. From behind," Edric said, tilting his head to indicate it had been somewhere down low. Soren and Harry both laughed and in response a shade pinched Soren's leg and he yelped, and then Harry was poked in the back of the shoulder. He had a feeling it was one shade that had been circling the three of them.

A shade tugged on Edric's shirt from behind and he said, "Hey, hey, I'm not here to collect. That's apprentice work. I'm just watching."

"Yeah but you're new and the most fun to tease and torment right now," Soren told him.

They carried four pitchers worth of umbra shade outside to deposit into the glass containers, and said goodbye to Edric, who had to leave for a Halloween gathering he was supposed to attend later that afternoon.

Harry and Soren chatted across the cabin as they collected slime that afternoon. The cabin wasn't well lit but it was a lot easier to see in the daytime and to work, despite that the umbra shade was harder to see and find in the light.

Harry lost track of time and was surprised when Snape called out to him from outside the cabin at five pm. Unlike Master Edric, he didn't appear to want to come inside.

Soren followed Harry out of the cabin, both of them with a pitcher full of slime, and they emptied them into the glass containers. The sun was just starting to set, and Harry wondered if Soren would be there all night collecting by himself since the ghosts would become more active after dark again. Snape seemed to be thinking along the same lines and said, "I have come to collect Harry. Will master Edric be returning to help you with the umbra shade?"

"He'll be back around midnight so we can transport all these jars back to the lab. My friend Isaac will be by around six to help me until midnight."

"Master Eadmund's second year apprentice?" Severus asked, and Soren nodded.

"Then we will take our leave. I would suggest not returning inside the cabin until Isaac is here."

"I'm going to have dinner until he arrives," Soren assured him. He turned to Harry, winked at him, and said, "Thanks for your help. Master Edric and I will be by in a few days with nine jars of umbra shade. You'll have to come back again to help me next year."

"Definitely," Harry said.

Snape let Harry change into fresh clothes before they left since he was filthy. His hair was messier than Soren's had been when they'd first arrived the night before, and he was ready for a shower and dinner. They apparated away and when they got back to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds, Snape asked, "How did it go?"

"It was good. I like working with Soren. Master Edric tried to scare me when he came to check on us in the middle of the night."

"He is well known for pranking those he likes."

"Huh," Harry said.

"Are you injured from the night's activities?"

Harry shook his head. "A few bruises maybe. The ghosts spent most of their time dragging Soren around the cabin because he seemed to be having fun with it." When they were picking on Harry it was done by loud screams which would make him jump, by trying to pull his hoodie or shoes off, or by taking his pitcher from him. Harry had spent half an hour in his socks collecting umbra shade because the ghosts had taken his shoes and carried them away. Soren had found one stuck to the ceiling upstairs in a sticky puddle of umbra shade, and Harry found the other under the decrepit old stairs.

When they got inside the castle Severus said, "The feast will start in twenty minutes. If you hurry, you may have time to shower beforehand."

"Yes sir." Harry hurried up through the castle and to the Gryffindor common room. Kids were sitting by the fire eating candy and talking and laughing together, or playing board games as they waited for the feast to start. Ron and Hermione spotted him as soon as he came in and came right over to him.

"Harry, we won!" Ron said happily. "Well, I didn't do so well, but Ginny caught the Snitch when we were up ten points and we won!"

Hermione winced and Ginny passed by a moment later on her way out to go to the Great Hall and said, "It was rather awful really. Ron let them score the first three goals and they were chanting ‘Weasley is our king'."

"Yeah but I got better after that!" Ron shouted out after her.

"He did," Hermione said. "He stopped almost all the rest of the goals and the Slytherins quieted down after that." She looked Harry and his messy hair and clothes up and down and asked, "How was it?"

"It was good. Interesting. Imagine ten or twelve of Peeves, but you can't see them, and they're all trying to knock you down or take what you're holding and throw it across the room while laughing manically about it because they think it's the funniest thing ever. It was pitch black and the moment Soren stepped into the cabin he was grabbed and hauled off up the stairs. That's how my night went."

Hermione and Ron just stared at him, and Harry wasn't certain they believed him. Perhaps he wasn't explaining himself well enough.

"If Fred and George ever get invisibility cloaks, you'll know what it was like."

They seemed to grasp this concept and both gave a nod. "That sounds awful," Hermione said. "It must have been scary."

"Actually," Harry said, "You were right Ron. Getting to leave for a day and visit a haunted house on Halloween was pretty fun." He wanted to tell them all about it, but before he could start telling them more about the night he'd spent in the cabin, Ron pulled his hand out from behind his back and Harry looked down to find a chocolate bar and a couple pieces of individually wrapped hard candy.

"Saved you some, since you were out dealing with ghost poop all night," Ron told him.

He grinned at his friend, appreciating that he had thought of him. "Thanks Ron."

"Well, you should go up to your dorm to get cleaned up," Hermione told him.

"Yeah, I gotta change," he said. He ran up the spiraling stairs and was glad Seamus wasn't inside the dorm when he got inside to hassle him. Harry opened his wardrobe and found a licorice wand sitting on the upper shelf. He smiled and pulled it out along with a fresh shirt and pair of pants. He sat down on his bed but something made a crinkling noise when he did and he felt with his hand to see what it was. It felt like another piece of candy under the covers. Wondering if there was anything else he lifted his pillow and found several handfuls of candy. Neville stuck his head inside the door and said, "Hey, you ready for the feast yet?" His eyes traveled to the pile of candy Harry had found. "We spent all day finding all that and then hiding it again for you," he said with a grin, then pulled his head back out the door and closed it so Harry could get ready to take a quick shower and change. Not such a bad Halloween after all when he'd got to spend it with a friend, and then came home to friends. It was the best Halloween in his remembrance.

"We can stop by the Greenhouses and get supplies. I've been packing a box full of things for when we found the shaggy inkcap," Neville said as they left Gryffindor tower.

"Breakfast first," Harry said.

The common room was empty when they passed through aside from a group of first years warming up by the fire. Harry would have invited Hermione to come if they had spotted her, but she didn't appear interested in what he and Neville were doing any more than Ron was.

In the Great Hall Harry wrapped up two handfuls of bacon in a napkin and stuffed it and two rolls into his bag for he and Neville, and then they went out to the greenhouses, where Harry stood at the door as the snow gently fell, getting his hair wet. He didn't want Filch to turn up and tell him he was out of bounds again. Instead Neville went inside and threw a few things from his corner workbench into a wooden box and came back out so they could trek down to the Quidditch Pitch.

"It's gonna be freezing in there," Neville said, and Harry agreed. His hands were warm from the fabric gloves Snape had given him, and he was thankful for the Gryffindor scarf and hoodie he had on, but it was still cold out. If it snowed anymore he'd have to remember to bring out his new Gryffindor snow cap and the winter coat Snape had given him.

When they got around the back side of the Pitch behind the Gryffindor changing rooms, Harry lifted the flap and was surprised to find a wooden stool and a cut tree round tall enough to sit on inside that hadn't been there before. He hadn't been back since he and Neville had found this spot a couple of weeks before, and wondered who had brought them here. It must have been another student, and Harry hoped someone else hadn't claimed this spot as their own.

"You bring these in here?" he asked Neville as the boy climbed under the canvas flap and let it fall again. It was cold inside as they'd predicted, but slightly warmer than outside because they were surrounded by thick canvas that kept the cold air and wind out. The dirt under here was cold, but dry, and Harry was glad the snow hadn't come in from the little hole in the ceiling above that was letting light pool in a corner.

"No," Neville said. "Glad to have them though."

He sat down on the stool and set his wooden box of gardening tools down and then reached into his bag for the book on mushrooms he'd been studying for two weeks.

"Let's see the mushrooms," Neville said.

"Hold on," Harry said, and pulled out the bacon and rolls instead, giving Neville half of what he had. The bacon was cold now, like Harry and Neville, but they didn't mind.

When they were done, Harry unzipped the small front pocket of his backpack and was dismayed to see that the shaggy inkcap had started to dissolve into a black, goopy, inky mess inside. "Dang," he said.

"What?"

Harry held the bag open for him to see and Neville scrunched up his nose.

"Lemme see your book," he said. "The one Professor Snape gave you. You said that's what these mushrooms do right? They turn to a black ink-like substance?"

Harry nodded and got into the large pocket of his bag for the book. It was bookmarked at the section about shaggy inkcap. Neville scanned the pages for a minute and said, "Yeah, see, it says here once they're picked you have a couple of hours before they start to rot and dissolve. I think it's ok. The cap dissolves and the spores get caught up in it and leak down the stem. Let's get as much of this out of your bag as we can and we'll see if we can preserve some of the spores to use."

Neville pulled out a flat glass jar. It looked to Harry like some sort of petri dish, and he was interested to see that it had some sort of yellowish clear potion inside of it already.

"What potion is in that?" he asked.

"It's not a potion. It's agar. Professor Sprout keeps it to propagate fungus when she needs to. She gave me a couple dishes of it."

"What's agar? What are we doing with it?"

"It's made from red algae. We're going to put the spores from the mushrooms in it and hope they're still good and that we can make a mono-culture from it that's not contaminated with mold or anything else from your bag."

Harry held the little pocket of his bag open and Neville used a tiny metal spatula to scoop the black goop out of it and into one of the little petri dishes full of gelatinous agar. Neville spread the black goop around the agar and then put the glass lid back on and set it on the ground.

"Try to get the stems out," Neville said. "They're mostly still intact."

Harry put on his dragonhide gloves and reached into the bag, extracting what remained of the five stems. Neville pulled out a little blade from his box and a small cutting board and handed them to Harry. "Cut the stem down the length. Make it a clean cut, and do it to all of them."

Harry nodded and balanced the cutting board across his lap. He was good at cutting up potions ingredients now made quick work of it.

"Great, now take a piece of flesh out of the center of each stem and put two pieces, each from a different stem in these dishes of agar." He unscrewed the lids off of three more agar dishes and held them out so Harry could put bits of the inner stem into them. The lids were screwed back on when they were done, and set next to the other agar dish on the ground. They had six agar dishes when they were done, and Neville looked satisfied.

"What now?" Harry asked.

"We wait a week, maybe more. Ten days at most," Neville said. "We should be able to tell in a few days if any of these are going to grow mycelium. We'll leave each dish until it's full to the edges with mycelium, and then we'll put it into some growth medium to innoculate it. Then after that we'll have the chance to grow some mushrooms."

"You two are raving mad coming out here in the cold like this," Ron grouched, lifting the canvas flap just then and coming in, pulling his collar up higher over his neck.

Harry and Neville stared up at him. "I thought you weren't coming," Harry said. "You said you didn't care about mushrooms."

"You care about mushrooms," Ron told him. "And what I said was that I wanted to have a lie in. I did and now I'm here." His eyes roved over the dark space and noting both the stool and tree round were occupied he said, "I'll have to ask Hagrid for another tree round."

"You brought these in here?" Harry said.

"Yeah. It's too cold to sit on the ground. You can't grow anything in here if you're miserable. I came down here with these a couple days after you found this place."

Harry was staring at him and Ron frowned and sat down on one of the thick beams that framed in the structure against the canvas. Neville explained to an uninterested Ron about the agar and about how you couldn't grow mushrooms from a seed, that they were grown from spores which contained all the genetic makeup of a mushroom, so two spores had to find each other in the agar and then from there they'd create a mycelium network from which mushrooms might grow. As Neville spoke Harry thought about what Ron had done. He didn't care about Harry's venture to grow mushrooms for defensive chimeric potions, and he didn't want to come sit in the cold on days off to grow them. Yet he'd brought things down for Harry and Neville to sit on anyway and had come down across the cold grounds to spend time with them.

"Harry, you listening?" Ron asked, and Harry looked back up. He was still in awe sometimes to know that he had friends like Ron, Hermione and Neville. It was something he'd never thought he had before Hogwarts, and was frequently afraid of losing.

"Huh?"

"We can't sit down here like this. We need that spell Hermione uses for fire in a jar. Can't light a fire in here or we'll catch hell for lighting the beams of the Pitch on fire."

"We just need rocks," Neville said. "We can heat them up and they'll radiate heat. That's actually how the greenhouses are kept warm."

"Really?" Ron asked.

"They built them on a bed of rocks. Professor Sprout heats them up every morning and then again at the end of her last class. She just sends the spell down through the floor of each greenhouse and it heats up all the rocks, then the heat rises up through the floor."

Ron stared at the dirt floor for a few moments and then said, "C'mon then. We'd better go collect rocks before it snows too much and we can't find any."

The three of them left their things under the Pitch and went out into the bright light, now reflecting off of all the snowy surfaces. There was an inch of snow now and it was still coming down lightly. They trekked thirty feet to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and began scavenging for rocks that were the size of their fists or a little larger. They had to be big enough to hold heat but small enough they could carry. Arms full of heavy rocks they made several trips back to the spot under the Pitch to deposit their loads.

"You got a trowel or something in there?" Ron asked Neville, looking into his wooden box, and Neville nodded and pulled two pointed trowels out.

"If we dig a little pit, just deep enough to spread the rocks out, that might help hold the heat better," Ron said, thinking of a fire pit.

Ron sat on the ground and pushed the trowel into the hard dirt. Harry used a spell to soften the dirt and after twenty minutes they had a pit about five inches deep and two and a half feet across. He and Ron pushed rocks into it while Neville went back outside to look for more. Ron was already heating them up with a spell even as Neville came back with another armful.

"Not as good as a fire," Ron said, "but better than it was." Harry had to agree. Perhaps if they kept heating the rocks up, the area would warm after a few minutes.

Ron's eyes traveled down the length of the dark underside of the Pitch, looking deep in thought, but he kept quiet.

They talked about the next steps in growing the mushrooms for twenty more minutes, before heading back up to the castle, too cold to stay any longer.

Harry went out to the Pitch by himself Monday after his last class, but the agar dishes looked as they had the day before. Tuesday Neville went with him after dinner while Ron went to Quidditch Practice, and they went to the edge of the forest to collect some moss from under the snow. "We'll use it as part of our growing medium," Neville said. "I've got a jar of grain from the greenhouses, but we'll put some moss in too. The myceilium needs to get nutrients and energy from somewhere since it's not photosynthesizing from light."

Ron returned with them on Friday in their free period when they would have been in Divination, and Harry and Neville were happy to see little white hairs growing in the agar dishes. "That what you were talking about?" Ron asked, stopping to look at the agar plates for a moment. "The myceil stuff?"

"Mycelium," Neville said. "Yup, that's it. The spores met and created new life!" He was excited and so was Harry. While they enthused Ron was pulling a yellowing sheet out of his bag where it had been waded up.

"Give me one of those rocks," he said, and Harry pulled one of the fist sized rocks that hadn't been warmed up yet out of the pit and handed it to Ron.

"What are you doing?"

"Keeping the heat in. I got some nails from Hagrid and I'm going to hang this up to keep the heat in this section and out from under the rest of the Pitch." He indicated the dark length of beams that stretched out before them that created a sort of corridor.

Harry helped him hold the sheet up as Ron used the rock to hammer nails in place along the top beam. The sheet didn't stretch the entire distance across the corridor of beams, and Ron said he'd find another one to bring back to finish sealing off the little room they were creating.

They didn't get a chance to come back Saturday because they all ended up in the optional potions lab, which was full that day since their entire class had struggled with the potion Snape had assigned them to master that week. Harry had it down finally by the end of the lab, but Ron was frustrated with the mess he'd made of his potion, and Neville looked unhappy despite that he'd finally brewed it successfully too.

Snape asked Harry to hang back after the lab to brew the potion again (to ensure he could do it successfully when it came time for the potions OWL, and Neville ended up staying with him, despite the irritated look Snape gave to have an extra student when he'd only intended to work with his potions apprentice.

Sunday morning Harry, Ron and Neville traipsed back down through the snow and ice to the Pitch. Ron hung up another sheet and Harry and Neville used five large jars Harry had brought down from the corridor potions supply to mix up grain, moss and a little water. The agar dishes were filled edge to edge with white mycelium now and were nearly solid. They broke up the mycelium into chunks and mixed it into the growing medium in each jar, leaving the lids off so air could get in.

"Now we wait," Neville said. "The mycelium should grow throughout the growing medium, and then we can take that and start growing mushrooms."

"Where are you gonna grow these mushrooms?" Ron asked, sitting down on a second wood round he'd brought up from Hagrid's Saturday after his Quidditch practice. The three of them all had a place to sit now.

"On a log," Harry said.

"I don't know," Neville told him. "According to Professor Snape's book shaggy inkcap doesn't grow on logs." He reached into his wooden crate and came out with several plastic tubs each the size of a shoebox. They were dirty like they'd had dirt in them before.

"We'll put dirt in these and top them off with moss," Neville said. "I brought them from home last year. I grow different things in them out in the greenhouses. We could grow scarlet elf cap on a log if you wanted though. We'd have to go see if there are any left in that spot back behind Hagrid's cabin."

"They were already on a log," Harry said.

"Scarlet elf cap," Ron said. "That's another kind of mushroom?"

Harry nodded and described it. He hadn't intended on growing it since they'd found several patches. If he needed any he could just collect it. They might as well now that they had an area to grow them in though.

Neville stayed behind under the Pitch while Harry and Ron crossed the grounds down to Hagrid's cabin and looked for the scarlet elf cap. The snow hadn't covered them completely yet, and because they were bright red and shaped like a little cup, they were easy to spot sticking up above the white snow.

Harry and Ron used their wands to melt the snow around the fallen log and then judged it small enough to carry back to the Pitch. Carrying it through the snow was more of a challenge than they'd thought though, and Harry was afraid to use a spell to lighten the load in case it affected the mushrooms growing on it in some way. Snape frequently cautioned him not to use spells on the ingredients they gathered. Even a simple drying spell could damage some ingredients beyond repair.

Finally, huffing and puffing, they had brought the elf cap log, covered in moss and with several patches of the red mushroom back up to the Pitch. At least it was warm inside, Harry thought as they set it down in a corner by the hanging sheet. Neville seemed to have been re-heating the rocks with some frequency to keep the space warm.

"We'll have to water that log," Neville said. "The moss and elf cap will need moisture." He lifted up Snape's mushroom book. "I've been reading about it while you were away."

He had taken notes too and had ripped the notes on elf cap and shaggy ink cap out of his notebook and used a spell to tack them to one of the wooden beams.

Before they left for the day Ron used a cutting spell to cut several of the boards that had fallen from higher up and were laying on the ground into nearly equal lengths and laid them across the pit of rocks.

At dinner that evening Hermione watched them as they came in late and asked, "Where have you three been? I couldn't find you anywhere."

"The mushroom den," Neville said. She knew they were trying to grow mushrooms, but had yet to visit their spot under the Pitch. "The mycelium has fully formed in the agar so we inoculated the growing medium today and brought in some elf cap to start growing as well. I'll have to get some more growth medium and agar from the greenhouses tomorrow in class so we can get some more elf cap going," Neville said all in a rush.

Ron shook his head at Hermione and said, "Don't ask and don't get them started. They've got a whole lab down there... like a Muggle mad scientist."

"How do you know about mad scientists?" Hermione asked. Ron and his family didn't have a telly.

"When I was out with mum once at a Muggle shopping center it was on one of the moving Muggle picture boxes in a window. A Muggle in a white coat was trying to turn a person into a lizard or something."

Hermione giggled and told Harry she'd go down to the ‘mushroom den' with them the next time they went. "Yeah," Ron told her, "well just bring a coat and gloves and mittens and a scarf. It's freezing down there."

Monday after classes Ron had Quidditch practice and couldn't go, and Neville said he had to work on a Transfiguration essay that was going to take him a while since he needed to look up some extra information. As a result Harry and Hermione went to the underside of the Pitch by themselves. She took in the little room the three boys had made while Harry checked each glass jar of growing medium and used a quick Aguamenti to send some water over the mossy rotting log in the corner. Harry heated the rock pit up with his wand, and then sat down on one of the tree rounds. Hermione took the wooden stool.

"I can't believe the three of you set all of this up out here," she said, pulling out her Arithmancy notes.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"I just don't know how you found the time." The light coming in from the hole in the ceiling and the loose canvas flap wasn't enough to study by so she lit her wand. "I've been studying non-stop. After the potions lab Saturday I spent the rest of the afternoon re-reading the chapter in the textbook and going over my notes trying to figure out where I was going wrong."

"Professor Snape made me stay after the lab and I had to re-brew the potion two more times. Neville stayed and did it too."

"He's giving Neville extra tutoring?" she said, sounding affronted. "He said he wouldn't be doing extra tutoring for OWLs!"

"No, he was helping me and Neville just tried to follow along. He actually ignored Neville altogether," Harry said. "But I'm his apprentice," Harry said. The man had to help him whether he wanted to or not. Harry was potentially the only fifth year this year not stressing out over their upcoming Potions OWL. He was stressed about the Transfiguration OWL, but not enough that he was in a panic to study like Hermione always seemed to be. His plan was to work through the class material and after Easter he was going to beg Hermione or Ron, or maybe an older student to help him figure out everything he was struggling with at that point.

"I see," she said.

"You know I can help you. You just don't want my help."

"That's not true."

Harry raised his brows at her. "You're not mad that I know more about something for once?"

She stared into his eyes and then her look softened a little. "I'm not about to bother you for help when I'm capable of figuring it out on my own and when you have enough extra work on your plate with the apprenticeship. You have so many extra books to study and you're helping Neville already. It seems unfair for me to bother you. Professor Snape is the school Potions Master on the other hand, and it's his job to make sure we all get through our OWLs. He should be the one tutoring anyone who's struggling."

Harry stared at her in awe for a few moments as he had stared at Ron the week before after realizing that Ron had put time into helping him set up the spot under the Pitch. Hermione didn't ask for his help because she didn't want to make extra work for him? All this time he'd thought like Ron had that she was upset that he was ahead of her in class.

"It's not extra work," he said. "Besides, you help me and Ron pass the rest of our classes. Just try to sit near me in Potions class and in the Saturday labs when I'm there, and let me know if you have questions. If I don't know the answer I can ask Professor Snape and then tell you. He has to answer my questions."

"All right then," she said. Her eyes roved around the space again and she asked, "Do you have another jar? Two maybe? I have a nifty spell that can give us more light."

Harry grinned at her and rummaged around in Neville's box of supplies. Harry had been bringing down extra supplies himself and adding them to the box as well.  She added a bit of moss to each jar so there was something to cast the spell on, and then screwed metal lids onto both jars and cast a lighting charm. The charm made the moss inside each jar fluoresce. She set one jar down on one of the wooden beams against the canvas where it cast a warm glow, and Harry found some wire from the box and wrapped it around the other glass jar and then hung it from one of the nails holding the sheet up.

It still wasn't bright, but it made the space feel more comfortable to study in. With the light, and the sheets, the seating, and the warm stones beneath the boards, Harry suddenly felt like he had a safe study space back, like the potions nook. It wasn't completely warm, but it was private and it was away from the castle and from Umbridge and Filch. More importantly, it was theirs. He and his friends had made the mushroom den together, and for the first time since the school year had started, he felt able to fully relax.

* * *

Harry would have been out at the mushroom den during all of his free time if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't allowed out after dark unless he had special permission from a professor, or had Quidditch practice. He stayed out as late as he could each evening and then went inside to study in the common room or the potions nook in the library. Umbridge and Filch seemed to know when he was in the potions nook and always made it a point to stop by and look through his bag, question him about what he was doing, or to do another search of the nook. Hermione told him that when she was there alone, or was there with Ron or Ginny, Filch and Umbridge left them alone. It infuriated Hermione, who preferred to be left alone while she was studying, and she ranted several times a week that they were sabotaging Harry's chance of passing his OWLs.

Harry found it to be an irritation, though these frequent checks by Umbridge had become a part of his daily routine and he expected them now. She always caught him outside of the Great Hall once a day on his way in to meals, and if not there she had Filch waiting for him outside of Gryffindor tower before curfew. Harry had given up now on sitting in the front of the Defense class, though he was still doing his best to do the essays she wanted and not to bring up anything about Voldemort or practical defense.

Ron said one day that Umbridge must be paying Filch extra to keep such a close eye on Harry and the defense section of the library, but Hermione thought it was something else. "She shows him appreciation," Hermione said. "If you worked somewhere for a lot of years and the students all hated you and you worked a thankless job like caretaker, you might jump at the chance to help someone who was praising you and saying please and thank you too."

"How do you know that's what's happening?" Ron asked her.

"I overheard them in her office as I passed."

"She keeps her door closed," Ron said. "You mean you were eavesdropping?"

Hermione cleared her throat. "As I said, I overheard them talking. She didn't demand he do anything, she asked him politely, and she told him how much she appreciated his help in keeping an eye on things."

"Good for him," Harry said with a huff. "Bad for me." He couldn't say he blamed Filch if it was really as Hermione had said. He also knew what that was like, to work hard and never be thanked or praised or to feel wanted. That was one of the reasons he loved returning to Hogwarts each year. Here he had a chance to stand on his own merit and earn house points or have teachers praise him if he did particularly well at something. It didn't happen a lot, but he loved when it did.

* * *

After two weeks of hard work in the mushroom den under the Pitch, ghostly white shaggy inkcap mushrooms began to grow. They'd taken the six jars of growing medium, now inoculated with mycelium, and spread them out into a dozen plastic containers Neville had brought down, mixed with dirt and covered in moss. The shaggy inkcap were now poking their heads up above the moss, and Harry couldn't have been more excited.

"Really mate, good job, but eh, it's just mushrooms," Ron said when Harry had dragged he and Hermione down to the mushroom den to show him the sprouting fungus.

"Yeah but, I haven't got Quidditch now have I?" Harry said. "This is the only thing I have to get excited about. If I didn't have this I'd be stuck up in the castle all the time."

"Yeah, all right," Ron said, accepting his answer.

Neville was also excited when he was able to next make it out to the mushroom den. Their Wednesday morning class had been canceled due to Professor Umbridge coming down with a flu, and so Harry and Neville hurried out to the mushroom den to clip the now harvest size shaggy inkcap.

"We'll get a second flush from this batch," Neville told him. "They'll grow up again before we have to start over. That'll be four or five days. If we take spores from some of these mushrooms and put them in agar, we'll start a cycle and can have another harvest soon."

They put most of the shaggy inkcap harvest into jars to let it decay into a black inky substance, which is what they needed for chimeric potions, and used seven of the mushrooms to start a new batch.

"Looks like we can harvest some more of the scarlet elf cap too," Harry said, looking over the decaying log as he tried to get his hand unstuck. He'd put his hand into the jar trying to arrange the shaggy inkcap just so but was now having trouble getting it back out.

The scarlet elfcap had to be harvested and stored in a different way than the shaggy ink cap. They had laid sticks down on the ground and then had laid more sticks in the opposite direction across them to lay the cut scarlet elf cap on to dry. Once they were dry they could be stored or powdered. Harry and Neville had already started several agar dishes with scarlet elf cap spores and then inoculated two jars of growth medium, and the moss on the log itself. It was an experiment to inoculate the log, and they were still waiting to see if any mushrooms would pop up from the moss there. If nothing grew, they'd still have the inoculated growth medium, and Harry had talked about finding another dead log to bring in if they were successful in growing scarlet elf cap.

* * *

October ended and they were well into November when Umbridge made an unexpected move.

Harry had grown complacent in his new routine. Classes on weekdays followed by going to the mushroom den to check on his project and study with either Neville or Hermione, and then dinner and studying in the library or the common room, being harassed by Umbridge throughout when he was anywhere near the castle. On weekends they attended the potions lab, though Harry sometimes skipped out with the understanding that Snape would likely track him down later if he did to make him brew on Saturday night. Most of Harry's Saturdays and Sundays were spent down in the mushroom den. They had discovered how to keep it at a temperature that was warm enough that they didn't feel the need to bundle in several layers of clothing. As long as he had a hoodie and gloves, he was fine. Hermione had added pockets of rocks in each corner of the mushroom den and looked up a stronger heating spell that would make the rocks warmer and keep them warm for longer.

It was this comfortable routine that got Harry in trouble. He fully expected Umbridge to demand to check his bag or ask where he was going while in the castle. He never expected her to trek all the way out to the Quidditch Pitch to spy on him or to follow him around to the back side to the mushroom den until it happened one Sunday afternoon.

Harry and Neville had been in the mushroom den all morning and had skipped lunch in favor of starting another new batch of shaggy inkcap spores. Things were set up in stages around the mushroom den now. There was a spot for inoculated agar dishes, a spot for the jars of growth medium, a row of plastic tubs with shaggy inkcap, and the log with the scarlet elfcap. Neville had also recently found brown wrinkly wood ear mushroom and had brought it into the mushroom den as well, and used some sort of sticky substance Professor Sprout gave him to adhere the wood ear to one of the beams framing in the pitch.

They were in the middle of stirring a hardened agar disc into a jar of growth medium when they heard Umbridge clear her throat in the high girlish way she always did to announce to Harry that she was behind him and ready to inspect his bag or the potions nook. Harry and Neville turned, dragonhide gloves on. Neville had a stirring stick in one hand, and Harry was holding a large glass jar of growth medium.

"What have we here?" Umbridge asked.

Harry and Neville gave each other a nervous glance. "This looks a lot like an illegal student club to me Mr. Potter. You see, when it came to my attention that you were not to be found during certain hours of certain days, Argus offered to find out where you were going. He followed you out here this morning and while it took him a while to figure out that you were under the Pitch, he came to get me, and then whent to retrieve Professor Snape as well. I'm afraid you're in quite a lot of trouble Mr. Potter. Mr. Longbottom, you should have known better than to participate in this sort of illegal student gathering."

"It's not a club maam," Harry said. "We're growing mushrooms."

"You are here with Mr. Longbottom in an area that is out of bounds to you. I know for a fact that Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger have also been coming out here with you as they are also not to be found when you have disappeared. I'm afraid since this is your second major infraction this year I'm going to have to insist on much more than a week's worth of detentions."

"But I haven't done anything wrong," Harry said.

"Because you have chosen to meet in an out of bounds area, I can only assume you're growing something dangerous, and that you've come out here because you don't want to be caught. With your knowledge of potions Mr. Potter, it's clear to me that you've decided to dabble in something you oughtn't."

They heard voices and footsteps outside in the snow and she smiled, holding the canvas tent flap up higher. Filch had arrived with Professor Snape.

"Argus," she greeted cheerily. "Professor Snape. Thank goodness you're here. We've just discovered an illegal student club and I'm afraid your potions apprentice is the ringleader."

"Is that so?" Snape asked in an icy voice. Harry felt chilled because the canvas flap was being held up and letting cold air in, but also at Snape's voice. Harry didn't know what kind of consequences Umbridge had in mind, but he hoped Snape wouldn't go along with it. He gave one last look around the wonderful mushroom den and his heart sank. Snape and Umbridge would both probably demand that Filch clean all of this out and destroy all of their hard work. This sanctuary, like all of the other ones Harry had found, would be destroyed.

"Yes, see for yourself. Mr. Potter is growing dangerous mushrooms. It appears he has many dangerous ingredients and potions inside. As soon as you confirm it we can determine just how severe his punishment will be."

She stepped aside and Snape lifted the flap of Gryffindor canvas fabric up and stepped inside. Umbridge came in behind him, and Filch waited outside, still holding the canvas up to let light in, peering in with his toothy grin. With the two added adults standing up in there, the space suddenly felt cramped. Harry and Neville had turned on the two tree rounds where they were sitting to look up at them. Umbridge had her arms crossed and was looking both smug and gleeful. Snape's face was impassive, though there was a flicker of something else in his eyes as they swept the space, first from the wood ear on the beam, then down to the scarlet elf cap, and then to the tubs of shaggy inkcap and all of their growing stations.

He met Harry's eyes and seemed to be giving him a stern talking to just in that one look, but it ended after only a moment and he turned to Umbridge and said, "You called me down here for this?"

"Excuse me?" Umbridge asked, surprised but attempting to sound polite.

"You have interrupted me in the brewing of an important potion and dragged me across the grounds to interrupt my potions apprentice and student with a project I assigned over a month ago?"

"What project?" Umbridge demanded, dropping her false politeness for a moment, before standing straight again, patting down the front of her shirt and tilting her head as she put on a little smile again. "Could you please explain it to me?" she asked. Her false politeness wasn't fooling anyone. She was seething underneath the facade.

"Mr. Potter was assigned to find and grow several species of mushrooms and then harvest and preserve them for use in brewing. He was told to find a controlled environment to grow them in. I assume he chose here as it is sheltered from the elements and because he was banned from after hours use of the greenhouses by you."

"These are dangerous potions and mushrooms!" she insisted, motioning around the room.

Snape turned and let his eyes sweep the mushroom den again. "Shaggy inkcap?" he asked. "It's not poisonous, even when ingested, and is not used in any potions that could be considered remotely poisonous. Scarlet elf cap," he continued, eyes falling on the rotting log again. "Another edible mushroom. Used in potions that produce or require extra heat, again, non-toxic. As for the wood ear," he paused so he could turn back around to face her. "It's commonly used in Chinese cuisine and found in Chinese markets. It has a few minor uses in potions, none of them poisonous or remotely dangerous."

"The potions!" she said angrily, pointing at the little clear glass containers of agar lined up in rows and labeled with which type of spore was growing mycelium inside.

He turned abruptly to Harry and snapped, "Agar Potter?"

"Yes sir."

"A common ingredient the upper year students use in Herbology class."

"Argus," she said urgently, and he stepped inside, letting the canvas flap fall closed. "Search the wooden crate and behind the sheet."

Snape waved his hand as if giving his permission for them to search the area, and Harry bit his lip, hoping Filch wouldn't destroy the place. Snape seemed to be thinking along the same lines and snapped, "Carefully," when Filch began rifling through the crate.

"Knives," Filch said, holding them up, and Snape held out his hand for them.

"Again, a tool every student has access to both in potions and Herbology. It's necessary both for harvesting mushrooms and for cutting open stems to get DNA to grow new mushrooms." He held the two small knives out to Neville, and he took them.

Filch looked behind the sheets and Umbridge shined her wand down the length of the cold dark corridor under the Pitch. There was nothing back there. None of them had been back there since Ron had hung the sheets up.

"A poor place to duel," Snape commented lazily. He was right. Even if they wanted to duel it couldn't be done under the Pitch. It was too narrow and there were too many beams to trip over or be thrown into, not to mention they could catch the beams on fire if any fire hexes were used. If Harry was going to duel he could think of a dozen places out on the grounds that would be better and well hidden enough to get away with it.

"The fact remains that this is out of bounds for students," Umbridge said, finally conceding that there was nothing else to punish Harry for, especially if Snape was going to stand on the story of assigning Harry to grow mushrooms in the first place. Harry was still too tense from Umbridge and Filch searching the place to process how shocked he was that Snape was lying for him. Maybe it would just be more of a headache for Snape to actually deal with him than to keep him out of trouble in the first place.

"Not for my potions apprentice, who I gave permission to be here."

"And Mr. Longbottom?"

"Was also given permission by Minerva. As his head of house she has the right to allow her students special privileges."

"I don't see any reason why Mr. Longbottom should be here engaging in a potions project as he is not an apprentice."

Snape didn't seem to have an answer for this so he and Umbridge both turned to Neville. All eyes on him now, Neville turned red and looked down at the knives he was still holding. "Professor Sprout lets me do extracurricular Herbology assignments after hours. This is what I chose to do this year. Harry didn't know how to grow mushrooms so we studied it together. I've been helping him find and catalog mushrooms across the grounds, and then we've been growing them. I write down what we try that works and doesn't work, and he's going to take what we're growing to use in his potions project."

It was as close to the truth as he could have gotten without denying that he'd been given any sort of permission from McGonagall or professor Sprout.

"We'll see what the Headmaster has to say about this," she said. "And Minerva too. There's no reason for these two or any other student to have the right or privilege to be under the Quidditch Pitch or without teacher supervision for any amount of time." She motioned for Filch to follow her, and they left, crunching away through the snow and around the side of the Pitch.

When they were certain they'd gone, Snape turned back to the boys and let his eyes wander around the mushroom den again. Then he looked at Harry for a moment and said, "Carry on," and took his leave as well. They could hear his boots crunching through the snow, and waited to speak until they couldn't hear him anymore.

"Did we just- get away with this?" Neville asked, turning back to Harry and finally putting the knives back in the wooden crate.

"I-" Harry paused. "Are we sure that was Professor Snape? Not the Headmaster or Ron after drinking polyjuice?"

Neville giggled a little and then pulled his dragonhide gloves off and put a hand up to his mouth to stop himself. "Professor Snape didn't even yell at me! He didn't even glare once!" He laughed out loud. It was the friendliest encounter the boy had ever had with the oft angry man.

Harry turned so he was facing their jar of growth medium again and said, "Carry on was a compliment. He didn't have anything negative to say at least. I mean, he might later." Harry was nervous about getting called to his office to talk to him later despite that the man didn't seem angry now. He would probably tell Harry to pack all of this up and move it to the greenhouses or a room inside the castle. At the very least he'd shout at him for being the cause of Umbridge dragging him out of the castle and down through the snow. It was a sunny day, but still bitterly cold outside.

They finished what they were doing and then trudged back up to the castle, Neville talking all the way about the encounter with Umbridge, Filch, and Snape under the Pitch.

* * *

Potter had surprised him. It had been clear from the start that the boy didn't like potions and didn't appreciate having to learn potions from Severus, yet he had made an effort since the start of the apprenticeship to study the apprenticeship books and any other material Severus had told him to get through. The boy's skill in potions was growing and he had moved up to the top of his class in potions with speed. These things were to be expected of anyone in a potions apprenticeship. What he hadn't expected was for Potter to take it upon himself to learn more than what he was assigned and to start an extra-curricular project without having to be told.

When Argus had come to fetch him in his office and told him there was a student in trouble and he was needed out on the grounds, he'd had an inkling given the man's toothy grin that Potter was involved somehow. He'd been ready to throw the book at the insolent child for doing everything within his power to make Umbridge take notice of him and then giving her yet another reason to punish him. What he saw when he entered the secret hideaway under the Quidditch Pitch had given him pause though. His eyes had traveled around the neat stations set up for propagating mushrooms, the notes tacked to the wall, and then to the worry on the faces of the two Gryffindor boys. He was impressed with the success they seemed to be having with the shaggy inkcap as first time mushroom growers, and curious about the effort Potter had put into this project. He had also been infuriated at the same time that the toad in pink had once again been ready to punish students for learning and putting in extra effort.

Severus didn't give points to students as readily as Minerva or Filius did. Any of them would have given Potter and Longbottom ten points apiece for the effort they'd put into this project however, Severus included. Yet there was Umbridge, demanding that both boys be punished. Severus didn't give either of the boys points but he did lie for them both, adamant like Minerva that none of the students that year be punished further for being studious or wishing to educate themselves.

He didn't know what Albus would do and had made it a point not to firecall him or go up to his office after getting back into the castle. He didn't want to go up there and meet Umbridge if she was still there yelling at hims. He supposed he would find out soon enough what would come of the incident, if anything.

Severus set his quill down from where he'd been trying to work out a grading ruberik for a second year class, unable to concentrate on it. Potter was a mystery. If he didn't want to study potions, why had he gone to all of this effort? It wasn't possible that he wanted to be a potions master, was it? That was something to ponder on. Severus was teaching the boy because he was his apprentice, and to keep him out of trouble, but not because he had really wanted to take the boy on. If the child was seriously considering a career in potions however, that changed things. It didn't change the fact that Severus disliked the child, or that the boy was foolish and often in trouble. It also didn't change the fact that he was going to teach the boy what he needed to know to pass his first apprenticeship exams. What it did change was how Severus felt about teaching him potions. He'd done his best to teach him while keeping him at arms length. If it had been another student apprentice Severus would have taken that child out on weekends to forage in the Forbidden Forest, or off of grounds to attend more gatherings with other apprentices and potions masters. If it had been another student he would have had more discussions already about the potions community and the opportunities for apprentices and potions masters, and started his apprentice on thinking about how to distinguish themselves in the eyes of the community. He hadn't done those things with Potter knowing the child would opt out of a second apprenticeship after he was done with this one.

Severus picked up his grading rubric and stared at it for long moments. He had a lot to think about in regards to the Gryffindor fifth year in his charge. But before he did any of that he needed to speak to the boy and ask him about his side project under the Quidditch Pitch. He must have had plans for the mushrooms he was growing and Severus wanted to know. There was no reason he couldn't brew whatever potion he was planning in Severus' lab as part of the apprenticeship, even if it was one beyond his current skill level. So long as the child wasn't planning on brewing something illegal (heaven help him after how he'd lied to Umbridge if that were the case), then the project could be incorporated into what Severus was already trying to teach him.

A/N: For anyone who wants to know what shaggy inkcap looks like, here's a pic:

Word had gotten around to the other staff about Harry and Neville's little project however. Monday after dinner professor Sprout came down to Gryffindor table with professor McGonagall and said, "I'd like to see your project under the Pitch Harry, Neville."

Neville didn't seem at all nervous and instead beamed up at her. "Would you like to go right now professor?"

"Yes. We have some time before it's completely dark." She seemed ready to go out in any case and so did McGonagall. They both had heavy winter cloaks on.

Harry and Neville led them out of the castle and across the grounds, Sprout and McGonagall chatting behind them about the upcoming holidays, and Harry was bolstered by the fact that Neville seemed in good spirits and neither professor seemed upset. When they reached the mushroom den and Harry had warmed the rocks and Neville had lit their little jars of moss, Sprout and McGonagall took a good look at all they'd accomplished in the past few weeks.

"You certainly seem to be taking this apprenticeship seriously Mr. Potter," McGonagall said to him with a smile.

He fidgeted, but felt comfortable enough with his head of house to tell her the truth. "It's best to find something to do out of the castle maam. With Quidditch gone I needed something that would keep me out of sight."

"Say no more," she said with a knowing look. "You're well understood Harry." She looked around the chilly little mushroom den again as professor Sprout stood up straight from where she'd been looking at their row of jars full of growth medium.

"This is a well designed project boys," she said to both of them. "How was the work and research divided?"

Neville described everything he and Harry had done and at the end Sprout said, "I'm awarding you each 50 points of extra credit for this. It's clear you both care very much about what you've been doing out here and have found good success through experimentation. If you'd like, I'll make space for your project in greenhouse five."

"Really?" Neville asked, clearly excited. He turned to Harry and said, "That's where they keep the professor's personal projects!"

Harry looked up at her. "Does this mean we have to move maam?"

"Not yet," McGonagall said. "For now the Headmaster has told Professor Umbridge to kindly shove off."

Harry raised his brows at her and she gave him a little smile.

"It won't be long however before she enacts some sort of rule that bans students, or you specifically from coming out here at all. When that happens, you'll be able to move your project into greenhouse five."

"Thank you," Harry said, fiddling with his snow cap which he'd pulled off when they'd come into the mushroom den. Then he looked up at professor Sprout and thanked her as well.

"The way the extra credit works is that it fills in for any points you lose on homework or tests. If you miss ten points on a test the extra credit will fill that gap until all of your extra credit points have run out. That doesn't mean you have an excuse to stop studying for Herbology however."

"Yes maam," Neville said for both of them.

As the four of them started back up towards the castle, McGonagall said, "I'm also awarding twenty points to each of you, for learning in the face of adversity and persevering towards your educational goals."

Neville and Harry both grinned at that. That was a lot of points to earn for Gryffindor all at once.

"Twenty each?" Sprout asked her.

"Ten from me and ten for the points Severus didn't give them but should have."

Sprout chuckled as the last of the light left the sky and they trekked through the chilly air towards the warmth of the castle.

Harry felt like his happiness at getting awarded points and extra credit was short lived however, because the moment they got inside the Entrance Hall, both Umbridge and Snape were waiting for him. Umbridge watched as he and Neville came in with McGonagall and Sprout and hung back, probably waiting to search Harry the moment he was alone, but before she could, Snape stepped out of the dungeon stairwell and said, "Potter. A word."

Neville tried to give him an encouraging look as they parted ways and Harry followed Snape down to his office in the dungeons.

When the door was closed and they were both seated, Snape said, "I would like to know about your project under the Pitch."

Harry wasn't sure what to tell him. Sprout had wanted to know the particulars of the project, and when he'd spoken to McGonagall he'd told her the truth. He didn't know if he was comfortable enough with Snape to tell him the truth though. He decided he definitely wasn't.

"What would you like to know sir?"

"I did not realize you had such an interest in mushrooms."

He looked down at his hands and fidgeted with them in his lap for a moment. "We spent a lot of time foraging for ingredients this summer."

"Is that something you enjoy doing?"

Harry nodded.

"Were you growing those particular mushrooms for a reason, or because you have a particular potion in mind you need them for?" It couldn't be that the boy had just grown those because those were the ones he'd found. He had asked Severus specifically about where to find shaggy ink cap weeks before.

"The library has books about defensive potions, and there were a bunch of chimeric potions that needed shaggy inkcap."

"Was there one in particular?"

Harry shook his head.

"Chimeric potions aren't something typically gone over in the first two years of an apprenticeship. They are advanced potions usually taught in the second two years. However, I see no reason why we cannot attempt them now given that you have already grown and harvested some of the ingredients."

Harry looked up at him, surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. Any of the chimeric potions will require that we brew two separate bases with different properties, and then potions based off of those two bases that will then be mixed together. Do you have the book with the potions you were looking at?"

Harry did have the book with him. He hadn't studied it, but he browsed through the potions sometimes when he had a few minutes or was bored. He pulled it out of his backpack and handed it to Snape across the desk. He had used sticky notes to bookmark several pages and written notes on other sticky notes next to a few of the potions that he'd been looking at that needed shaggy ink cap and scarlet elf cap both. Since it was a library book, Harry had known better than to write in it and had found the sticky notes Snape had given him useful.

"Out of the ones you've been looking at, this would be the easiest. It will still take two full weeks to brew however." He slid the book back across the desk to Harry, and pointed at one of the potions. It was called Fire and Ice and it had intrigued Harry to know there was a potion that could both burn and freeze a person at the same time if it touched their skin. It would kill a person if enough of it was dumped on them, or if it was consumed as it would freeze them from the inside out. If not used to hurt someone it had several medicinal uses in combating frostbite and other ailments.

"I do not have time to start brewing this until Sunday. Return Sunday morning with a jar of shaggy ink cap ink approximately this big," he indicated a medium size jar with his fingers, "as well as enough dried scarlet elf cap to create a jar of powder this big." He indicated a smaller size jar and Harry nodded.

He looked at Harry again and said, "Did Professor McGonagall inform you that you may at some point need to move your project?"

"Yes sir. Professor Sprout said we could use greenhouse five."

He nodded and then dismissed Harry, reminding him not to forget about Sunday.

All in all, Harry thought the day hadn't turned out too bad. Snape hadn't been mad at him and he'd earned points and extra credit from McGonagall and Sprout. Best of all, neither Filch or Umbridge was waiting for him in the Entrance Hall as he left the dungeons and made his way up through the castle to Gryffindor. He only wished the rest of his week could have gone as well.

* * *

As Christmas neared, the Hufflepuff's insults seemed to intensify. "Wish Cedric were here to celebrate Christmas with his family." Several of the seventh year Hufflepuffs had been expressing this sentiment to Harry as November ended and they raced through the first week of December. He tried to ignore them, but the problem was that he agreed with them on just about everything they said.

"Cedric's parents will be missing him this time of year."

Harry was sure they would be. He wasn't a parent, and didn't even have a family of his own, but he couldn't imagine losing a loved one like that and having Christmas roll around. He'd never gotten to spend Christmas with people who loved him, but someday he hoped to. The closest he'd come was when Ron or Hermione stayed back to have Christmas with him at the castle. Ron was going home this year, but Hermione had planned on staying with him. They usually took turns. Last year Ron, Fred and George had all stayed back so Harry wouldn't have to spend the holidays alone.

"Hey Potter, how's it feel knowing you murdered Cedric?" This one wasn't a new taunt, but the Hufflepuffs had been throwing it at him more lately. Awful. It felt awful.

With the extra taunts and all of his friends busy with extra Quidditch practices, or studying for upcoming end of term exams, Harry was taking every opportunity to get down to the mushroom den before Umbridge found a way to make him move it to greenhouse five.

The weather had grown more wild and had been dumping snow on the castle and grounds all week, so Harry had been careful to bundle up in the warmest clothes Snape had provided for him. He was thankful to have his Gryffindor snow cap and scarf, and couldn't imagine being able to get down to the Pitch in this weather without them.

Saturday morning Ron was out at an extra Quidditch practice and his other friends were busy, so Harry bundled up and headed out into the sunlight and the frosty morning air to gather the ingredients he needed to take to the dungeons the next day to start work on the fire and ice potion.

After navigating the steps leading out of the castle which were buried in snow, Harry knew it was going to be a pain to get down to the Pitch when there was two feet of snow on the ground. A group of Slytherins was having a snowball fight near the greenhouses, and there were a few smaller groups spread out doing the same further away down towards Hagrid's cabin. The sky was blue and cloudless, and it was a great opportunity to get out before it started snowing again. Harry only hoped he wouldn't encounter any Hufflepuffs on his way to the Pitch.

Seamus passed him before he got too far away from the castle steps and Harry kept his head down and ignored him. It was the routine the two of them had fallen into. Seamus acted as though Harry didn't exist, and Harry tried to pretend he didn't when around him. It surprised Harry when Seamus called out to him then.

"Where are you off to Potter?" Seamus asked. He looked irritated, but it was one of the first semi-friendly things the boy had said to Harry all term, so he stopped and looked up at him.

"The Pitch," Harry said.

"Off to have a good time then?" Seamus sneered at him, making Harry tense a little.

"Erm... no, there's something I need to do."

Seamus trudged over to him through the deep white powder until they were face to face. Harry wondered what the boy would say next but instead of saying anything to him he reached out and shoved Harry in the chest, knocking him over backwards into the snow. Harry was stunned and lay there looking up at the boy, whose face had now morphed into anger.

"You know I almost didn't get to come back to Hogwarts because of you?" Seamus shouted down at him. Harry didn't respond, which only seemed to make him angrier. He took a step forward and Harry stilled, waiting for Seamus to punch him, but the boy didn't, despite having his hands balled into fists at his sides. Harry could fight back if he did hit him, but Umbridge would see and he'd get detention for defending himself, or Snape would yell at him and take away privileges because Harry had caused trouble. Neither of them would believe Harry had only been defending himself. So Harry just lay there, muscles beginning to ache from the cold and the tension as Seamus said, "You said You-Know-Who came back and had kidnapped you from school, so my mum didn't want me to come back! Wanted me to go to school with the Muggles instead! She fought with me about it all the way til the day I left on the train. She wouldn't even take me to get on the train! I had to ask the neighbors for a ride because their son goes here too. And every week she owls me begging me to come home because you said You-Know-Who was back and she thinks if I stay here I'll be killed."

Harry's mind was spinning. All term he thought Seamus had been mad about Cedric. It had made so much sense to him given how the Hufflepuffs were reacting to Harry's presence. But Seamus had problems all of his own he'd been dealing with it seemed.

Seamus bent down over Harry and lifted his hand towards Harry's face, making Harry flinch back in anticipation of getting punched. The movement startled Seamus who frowned and looked disturbed for a moment. The boy reached out again and grabbed Harry's hat and pulled it off his head and then took his scarf as well. "You just go on down to the Pitch and have a ball then, how about that?" Seamus said. The boy looked like he was uncomfortable with the whole encounter... like he knew what he was doing was wrong. He turned and went back up the snowy steps, Harry's hat and scarf in hand, and Harry watched him go from his spot in the snow.

When Seamus was gone Harry let his eyes travel across the grounds to the group of Slytherins that had been having a snowball fight by the greenhouses. They were staring at him. Draco and Crabbe and Millicent were amongst them. Feeling the urge to move as his cheeks heated up, Harry got up from the pile of snow he'd been lying in and stuffed his hands down into his pockets as he turned for the Pitch again. The back of his pants and his shoes and socks were wet now and he'd be freezing all the way down there. It wasn't fair that Seamus had such trouble getting back to Hogwarts. It wasn't fair that Cedric had died. It wasn't fair that Harry had lost his new prized cap and scarf. It wasn't fair that Harry couldn't fight back and defend himself or that Umbridge was waiting for him to screw up at every turn.

None of it was fair, and there was nothing Harry could do about any of it.

* * *

That evening Ron yelled at Seamus for taking Harry's cap and scarf. Dean, Neville, Seamus and Harry were all in their dorm when Ron had come in, ready to punch Seamus in the face. He might have too if he weren't a Prefect. Harry kept his back to the two as Ron yelled at them, sitting at his desk and pretending not to listen as his face and the back of his neck turned red to have all the boys in his dorm there watching.

"You know he doesn't get decent clothes!" Ron shouted. "I don't care what you're mad about, that was a jerk move to take his cap and scarf from him! After all the things we've lent to him over the years you should know better!" For just a moment Ron reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley and how she chastised her children sometimes. It was odd to hear Ron telling Seamus off like he was a child.

"I know all right!" Seamus shouted back finally. There was a shuffling sound from behind him and Harry looked into the reflection of the window in front of his desk and saw Seamus handing the Gryffindor cap and scarf back to Ron. "I felt bad about it the moment I did it."

"Yeah," Ron said with a huff, taking a breath and seeming to calm down a little. "Well just knock it off already."

"He didn't have to tattle on me," Seamus muttered, and Ron swelled up with anger again. Before he could say anything though, Dean jumped in.

"I told him."

Seamus didn't have anything to say to that and so he turned and left the room.

"Here," Ron said, seeming shaken from having to tell their dorm mate off. He held Harry's cap and scarf out to him but when he didn't take it, Ron turned and set them on Harry's bed.

"Thanks," Harry said, face still red and looking down. Everyone busied themselves with homework or studying then and no one spoke of it for the rest of the night, not even when Seamus came back in twenty minutes later. The matter was settled. Harry just wished it hadn't happened at all. He was embarrassed enough as it was to have had the Slytherins see the incident. Now all of his dorm mates knew too.

* * *

Severus drummed his fingers on his desk. Harry would be coming down to see him any moment now to start brewing the Fire and Ice potion. They couldn't start brewing until Severus had words with the boy about several disturbing things he'd heard the day before, and he wasn't looking forward to it. If Potter wasn't in his charge he would have left it to Minerva as his head of house, but as the boy was now his ward, he was responsible for dealing with incidents like this.

The evening before Severus had been on his weekly rounds through the Slytherin common room. He liked to have a presence there on Saturday evenings so any of his students could come to him with questions or ask him for help if they needed it. Sometimes it was daunting for students, especially younger ones to get up the nerve to go to his office to ask for help. On his rounds through the common room, usually the younger students let him know that they'd been picked on or bullied by kids from other houses throughout the week, and the older students asked questions about upcoming exams or asked for help on difficult assignments. This time around there hadn't been many issues to address, but Severus had paused when he heard some of his fifth years discussing Potter.

"Just not right. He's supposed to have defeated You-Know-Who and he just sits there waiting to get pummeled."

"I don't know why he didn't pull out his wand."

"Because he's stupid."

Severus turned and stepped towards the table in the corner of the room. Draco, Vincent, Millicent and Teddy were sitting there, books open but no homework being done.

"What is the topic of discussion this evening?" Severus asked. Draco looked panicked for a moment, but it was Vincent who spoke first.

"Potter sir."

"What about Potter?"

"He just lets kids pick on him all day long. Doesn't do or say anything about it."

"Are we talking about students in our own house Mr. Crabbe?"

"No sir."

When it was clear Severus was waiting for them to elaborate on their conversation, Millicent took it upon herself to relay what they'd seen between Seamus and Harry earlier that day.

"It's not just that," Draco finally said. "It's not that he just laid there waiting for Finnegan to punch him or steal his stuff. He lets the Hufflepuffs walk all over him too."

"He is being assaulted by Hufflepuffs?"

"They've been calling him a murderer all term," Draco said. "Lately they've been reminding him that Diggory isn't alive for Christmas and that his family misses him. It happens all day long in classes and in the halls. He doesn't say anything back to them. He just lets them be jerks."

"I'd pound them if they were doing it to me," Crabbe said, slamming his fist into his open hand for effect.

"Maybe we all would," Teddy said. "That's the point isn't it? How is he supposed to stand up to You-Know-Who if he doesn't stand up for himself here. It's..." he trailed off.

"Scary," Millicent said for him. She looked up at Severus. They all did. He knew most of them were going to be expected to join Voldemort's ranks as soon as they turned 17. Some of them might even be told to join when they turned 16. Teddy's parents weren't involved with Voldemort, but Draco, Millicent and Vincent would all be expected to become death eaters. His heart swelled a little to know that they didn't want to... that they were good kids. His heart fell at the same time to know they would have to and that they were just waiting for Potter to defeat Voldemort before that inevitability.

"Thank you for telling me about this," he said. "It will be handled."

It wasn't often that his Slytherins spoke out to help a student from another house, but they must have known Potter was his apprentice, even though it wasn't common knowledge yet. Or they were concerned because they needed him to stand up and defend himself.

Now Severus was tasked with talking to the fifth year Gryffindor. He didn't want the boy to defend himself so he could eventually fight Voldemort. He wasn't necessarily concerned with the boy standing up for himself at all. The fact remained that items of clothing had been stolen from him however, and he was being bullied by not one, but potentially dozens of students. It turned his stomach to think about Potter being blamed for Cedric Diggory's death. The child was a menace... he was full of himself and always in trouble, but he wasn't a murderer, and there was nothing he could have done in that graveyard to save the seventh year Hufflepuff, even if given the chance.

There was a knock on his office door and he waved it open with his wand. Potter was there with his dragonhide gloves and the two jars of requested ingredients.

"Sit down," Severus said. Harry shut the door to the office and then sat down, putting the jars of ingredients on Severus' desk.

"It has come to my attention that there was an incident between you and another fifth year yesterday morning."

Harry's eyes immediately went down to his lap. "I didn't cause any trouble sir, I swear. I didn't do anything wrong."

"I did not imply that you did. Explain to me what happened."

"Nothing happened," Harry lied.

"I have a group of fifth year Slytherins who disagree."

Harry's eyes came up to meet his in a frown. "It was just a misunderstanding."

"That ended in your school scarf and cap being taken off of you forcibly?"

Harry looked down at his lap again and mumbled. When Severus asked him to repeat what he'd said so he could hear it, Harry said, "Ron got them back last night. It was just a joke."

"First a misunderstanding, and then a joke?"

"It was a joke," Harry repeated. "I didn't understand til' later." It was a lie and they both knew it, but Severus didn't call him on it this time like he usually did. The boy probably just didn't want to lose house points. The same thing frequently happened in Slytherin. If there was inter-house conflict, Slytherins kept it to themselves so staff wouldn't take points.

Severus sighed heavily and then said, "What about the Hufflepuffs?"

Harry froze. "Sir?"

"I was also told that several Hufflepuffs have been bullying you."

Harry mumbled something that sounded like, "just a joke," and Severus didn't ask him to repeat it this time. Instead Harry reached forward to the desk and pushed the jars of ingredients forward hoping to change the topic of discussion.

With another sigh Severus was willing to let the subject drop for now, though as they began work on a fire base with the scarlet elf cap a few minutes later in his private potions lab, Severus couldn't help but wonder about Potter in the same way his fifth years had. He could understand not wanting to get others from his own house in trouble, but what was his reason for not telling him the truth about the Hufflepuffs? Why did he just take everything they said to him?

Maybe it was because he didn't care, Severus reasoned as Harry left two hours later. Perhaps he knew the Hufflepuffs were wrong and didn't care about what they said. He didn't think that was the case, but it could have been. Whether he cared or not it couldn't be doing him any good having them call him a murderer constantly. His chest constricted for a moment at his own guilt over the deaths of Harry's parents. While he had never outright killed someone like many death eaters had, the deaths of Lily and James Potter were worn around his shoulders like a heavy cloak weighted down with boulders in the pockets. No one had called him a murderer, but he was certain many thought it of him. He was well aware that most people didn't like him. He couldn't imagine Harry not caring about the taunting from the Hufflepuffs even if he knew he was innocent.

As the day wore on, Severus really started to consider for the first time that Harry should be assigned apprentice quarters so he could have Prefect status. As a Prefect the Hufflepuffs, Mr. Finnegan and anyone else that wanted to bully him would have to leave him alone or he could take points from them. Any points Harry took would be reviewed weekly by staff, or could be disputed by whatever students he took points off of, but the word of Prefects was almost always taken over those of regular students.

Severus ran over all the consequences of giving Harry Prefect status in his mind through dinner. Potter could abuse his power. Severus was his guardian though and was there to keep a close eye on him to ensure he wouldn't. It could give the boy a bigger head than he already had, though looking at the boy now as he ate at Gryffindor table with his friends, head down as he picked his food, Severus was reminded of the rough term the child had already had. He certainly hadn't been strutting around or showing off his new status as an apprentice. The contrary was true, he seemed to be keeping his head down and trying to stay out of Umbridge's sight. If given apprentice quarters Potter would have to attend Prefect meetings and patrol the corridors on certain nights, but having his own quarters would mean a quiet place to study for his OWLs and apprentice exams, and to get away from anyone giving him trouble.

Severus leaned in to Albus and Minerva and said, "We need to talk."

"Hm?" Albus asked.

"I would like to request apprentice quarters for Potter."

Minerva looked alarmed and leaned around Albus to see Severus better. "What for?" she half demanded. "I happen to know he wants to stay in Gryffindor tower."

"He can be given quarters near Gryffindor," Severus half growled, not wanting to fight her about this. Umbridge was several seats away but they were still keeping their voices down.

"You realize this will give him Prefect status?" Minerva whispered.

"I am well aware. It is why I wish him to be moved."

She and Albus both looked surprised.

"You want him to be a Prefect?" Albus asked.

"It will keep others from bullying him, and thus keep his mind on his studies where they should be."

"If you're speaking about the incident with Mr. Finnegan," Minerva said, moving her plate away from herself, "that was taken care of by Mr. Weasley last night."

"That is only one incident. More than a dozen Hufflepuffs have been accusing him of murder all year."

Minerva gasped and Albus' face darkened.

"They haven't!"

"It was bad enough that Mr. Malfoy told me about it."

Minerva and Albus both looked upset by this news and Severus gave a little nod. Good, that statement had the effect he'd wanted it to. Everyone knew Draco and Harry hated each other, so if Draco was concerned about the bullying, it must have been bad.

"I will have words with Pomona about it after dinner," Albus said.

"I want Potter in apprentice quarters as soon as possible. As it's Sunday, now would be the appropriate time to make the change so he is not distracted from his studies during the week."

Minerva pursed her lips. Clearly there was more she wanted to say about it, but she didn't because Umbridge was watching them now from down the table.

"I'll prepare his quarters now. Will you be telling him?" She gave a pointed look to Severus.

"Yes. As soon as dinner is finished."

Minerva rose and left the table. There was only one set of apprentice quarters near Gryffindor tower, so Severus assumed that was where she was headed.

Severus watched Gryffindor table so he could catch Potter as soon as he rose, and when the boy was finished he told him to follow him down to his office.

"What- what do you mean apprentice quarters?" Harry asked a few minutes later in Severus' office.

"I was under the assumption the Headmaster went over all the rules for student apprentices with you at the end of the summer."

"He did, I mean, but why?" The boy's eyes were wide and horror was written across his face.

"Having Prefect status will mean you will have recourse against bullies. You will be able to take points away from anyone who is bullying any student, even if that infraction is against yourself. I warn you now however that you are not to abuse the point system for your own benefit. Every point taken by a Prefect is reviewed at the end of the week by the Headmaster or Deputy Headmistress."

"It was all a joke though," Harry tried. "I haven't been getting bullied. I swear. I can stay in Gryffindor with Ron and Neville and Hermione."

"The decision has been made Potter. Professor McGonagall is already preparing your new quarters. She will go over the rules with you. Return to Gryffindor and pack your belongings into your trunk."

"But sir-"

Severus held up his hand to cut him off, growing irritated. "I could demand that you stay in my quarters Potter."

Harry clamped his mouth closed, hands balled into fists at his sides for a moment before they relaxed and he brought them together to pick at his nails.

"Go and pack," Severus said, and Harry left his office. The boy could always be moved back to Gryffindor tower next year. He'd keep his Prefect status then, but a certain amount of time must pass with him in Apprentice quarters first to show he had been set apart from the rest of the student body as a true student apprentice. The boy didn't have to like it to know it was for his own good. He didn't even have to believe it was for his own good. He just needed to do as he was told. Severus was confident this would resolve the issue with the Hufflepuffs and with Finnegan. If he could just get rid of Umbridge somehow, the boy might have a chance to pass all of his OWLs and focus on his apprenticeship books. If only that were a possibility.

* * *

Up in Gryffindor tower, Harry bounced back and forth between anxiety, anger, indignity, and a slew of other emotions as he opened his trunk and began throwing things into it. It made his stomach roil and turn itself in knots from the fighting emotions. Only a minute had passed before the dormitory door opened to reveal some of the other fifth year boys.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Ron asked, standing in the doorframe, Seamus and Neville right behind him. They watched as he haphazardly threw his things out of his shared desk with Ron into his trunk and stuffed his clothes, unfolded, into the trunk as well.

"Moving," Harry said, anger and upset evident in his voice.

"Moving?" Neville asked. "What do you mean?"

"They're making me. I'm not allowed to stay in Gryffindor anymore."

"But why?" Ron asked. "They're not making you stay with Snape are they?"

"Because they think I'm being bullied. Someone saw you take my hat and scarf," Harry said angrily, turning to glare at Seamus. The other boys were surprised to see tears in his eyes. "So I'm not allowed to live in Gryffindor anymore. They're sticking me in a room by myself."

"Harry, I didn't mean it," Seamus said, looking stunned. It was the first thing all term he'd said to him that sounded genuine... like the old Seamus Harry had been friends with for all these years.

"I just want to be left alone," he said, throwing his hand out flat. "I just want to be left alone to do my schoolwork and get through this stupid apprenticeship I'm being forced to do."

Harry turned his back to them and stood staring down into the mess that was his trunk, breathing heavily.

"Forced to do?" Neville asked quietly from the stairwell.

"His uncle and Snape set it up. He didn't get a choice. Snape's his guardian now and you can guess how that's going," Ron said.

Harry slammed the lid of his trunk closed and flipped the latch to secure it. "Thanks for getting me kicked out of Gryffindor," Harry said, storming out past the boys and leaving his trunk behind. He'd have to get it later. He didn't want them to see him crying. At the bottom of the stairwell he realized the common room was full so he turned abruptly and went back into the boys stairwell and into the boys bathroom where he locked himself in a shower stall and sank to the floor. This apprenticeship was slowly ripping everything from him, one thing at a time. The library in Little Whinging, his freedom, and now the safety of the dorms. Even his family... though he supposed, he had lost them before he'd even known them. He'd never had a family to begin with.

Minutes passed in silence, Harry's hitched breaths the only sound. No one came after him and he hoped they wouldn't as minutes ticked by into half an hour. Finally, when his breathing had calmed and his tears had dried, he heard Ron's voice outside the bathroom door in the boys stairwell.

"This is bogus professor. He doesn't want to leave."

"I'm well aware Mr. Weasley. I'm afraid the decision isn't mine to make."

The bathroom door opened and Ron called out, "Harry? You in here?" Without even waiting for a response he turned and said, "He's not here Professor. Must be somewhere outside of Gryffindor tower already."

"That's enough Mr. Weasley," McGonagall chastised him softly, no real sternness in her voice. "Mr. Potter, come out."

Harry unlocked the shower stall door and stepped out. Ron looked sorry where he stood in the door and Harry passed him without a word to meet McGonagall in the stairwell.

"Come along Harry."

Harry followed her out of Gryffindor and into the dark corridor outside.

"Not here," she warned him. "We'll talk in a minute."

She led him down the long corridor leading from Gryffindor tower and then to a spot where it merged at an angle with another corridor that went to McGonagall's office and back towards the Library. Where the two corridors converged there was a wall at an angle with a heavy wooden door.

"These are the Gryffindor student apprentice quarters," she said. She tapped the door with her wand and it unlocked, admitting them entrance. Once inside she closed the door and gave him a sad look. "I'm aware this wasn't what you wanted Harry. Unfortunately Professor Snape has the final say in this matter and feels this is what's best."

She pointed to the closed door and said, "Tap that with your wand and say a password you would like it to have please."

Harry turned to the door, giving it a look like it was the cause of all of his problems, and then tapped it with his wand and said, "Ink cap."

"That will be the password for the rest of the year. It won't admit anyone else entrance, only you, myself, the Headmaster, and Professor Snape. As these are student quarters it's required that your head of house, the Headmaster, and Professor Snape have access in case anything should happen that requires our presence. Professor Umbridge will not be able to come in unless you let her in, and even then not without myself or Professor Snape or the Headmaster present."

Harry gave a nod.

She motioned around the room and said, "You have a bed, a fireplace, a desk, bookshelves, a couch and chair, and a bathroom through that door. Everything you should need. The fireplace is connected to the castle Floo network, but it only goes to Professor Snape's office and quarters. It's too small to travel through, but you can firecall Professor Snape if necessary or he can firecall you."

She sat down in the comfortable looking living room chair for a moment and motioned for Harry to sit on the two seat couch. Harry did and she said, "You may have other students here if they are male. No female students will be allowed. There is a spell on the door in fact that will not allow girls under the age of 18 to pass through. This ensures that any girls that enter are not students. Because you have quarters of your own now, you may not sleep in the dorms in Gryffindor tower. You are however still a Gryffindor and are allowed in the Gryffindor common room, Gryffindor bathrooms and showers, and at Gryffindor table. Just ensure that you are sleeping in this room."

"Yes maam."

"That means that any friends you have over must also return to their dorms to sleep."

Harry gave a nod.

"You have Prefect status as well, though as you've already been told, you cannot be made Head Boy because of it. I'm certain Professor Snape has already explained the rules about taking points. There are other rules for Prefects but I'll go over those with you tomorrow after dinner in my office. For now you can unpack your things. I had a house elf bring them for you."

Harry let his eyes travel around the room and found his two trunks against a wall.

"Thank you," he said.

She gave him a sorry look and bade him goodnight. "Let me know if you need anything Harry," she said, and he gave a nod. She left and closed the door, and Harry was alone, like he always was. No parents, no friends, no house. Well, she had said he was still a Gryffindor, but being here alone in this room didn't make him feel like he was one.

He stood up and paced for a few moments before the crackling fire, and then flopped face first onto the four poster bed in the center of the room. He lay there for long moments wishing he could just block everything out, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. He prayed it wasn't Snape coming for some reason, or Umbridge come to look for contraband.

Sitting up and rubbing his aching eyes, Harry went to the door and opened it and was surprised to find Ron, Seamus, Neville and Dean. They looked nervous.

"Are we allowed to come in?" Ron asked.

Harry stepped aside, glad Ron was there but not sure about the others. He was friends with them all, (even if Seamus had been horrible all term), but was exhausted and was only comfortable with Ron and Hermione seeing him at his worst.

They came in and closed the door, eyes roving around the new space. It was Seamus who spoke first.

"I'm really sorry Harry," he said. "For everything. I was so frustrated with my mum cuz she's been sending me more and more letters as Christmas gets near. I feel like if I go home she won't let me come back. I shouldn't have taken it out on you or taken your things. If I hadn't you'd still be in the tower with us."

Harry plopped back onto his new bed. "McGonagall said I'm still allowed, but I can't sleep there and no one else can sleep here but me."

"So you can still come into the common room?" Ron asked.

"Yeah."

Ron's eyes swept the room again as he sat down on the couch. Dean sat next to him, Neville took the comfortable chair, and Seamus leaned up against the wall by the fireplace. "Not too bad though," Ron said. "Pretty big. I was afraid they were gonna stick you in a-" he paused.

"In a closet?" Harry laughed out loud. That would have been his luck. Ron was the only one that knew he'd once slept in the cupboard under the stairs at Four Privet Drive.

"Wasn't gonna say that," he said, face heating up.

"What's through there?" Neville asked, pointing at the bathroom door.

"Bathroom. I haven't been in there yet."

Neville got up and opened the door and Harry went to look with him. There was a bathtub with a shower, framed in on two sides by a large wardrobe and a smaller cupboard that looked like it was meant for towels. There was a toilet, and a counter with a sink that had drawers and cupboards underneath. With the size of the other room and the bathroom it was almost like Harry had his own flat, minus a kitchen.

"Furniture's comfortable," Dean said, trying to sound positive when Harry and Neville came back out of the bathroom. The couch and chair looked more modern than the furniture in Gryffindor. It was a muted dark blue headed towards gray. The comfortable chair was the same color, and so was the blanket and hangings on the four poster bed. Harry would miss the reds and golds of Gryffindor tower, but thought he liked the calming colors in this room well enough.

"C'mon," Ron said, "we'll help you unpack."

Dean went to Harry's school trunk and opened it, then winced when he saw the mess inside from where Harry had stuffed everything in. His homework assignments were a wrinkled mess amongst his clothes and school supplies.

"Am I allowed to open your potions trunk Harry?" Neville asked as Dean handed Ron an armful of clothes and Ron took them to the bathroom to hang in the wardrobe.

"Yeah," Harry said, and Neville opened it up and then took his two cauldrons and put them on one of the empty bookshelves, along with some of Harry's books and tools.

Seamus put Harry's school supplies away in the desk which was against the wall by the door leading out into the corridor, and Dean used his wand to try to flatten the parchments and other things that had gotten wrinkled in Harry's haste to pack over an hour ago. His friends had everything put away so quickly that Harry hadn't gotten a chance to do any of it himself. His heart was swelling and he felt close to tears for a second time that day. Things looked bleak so frequently for Harry, but just when he thought he couldn't stand to deal with things any longer, his friends always made things bearable for him. Despite all that had happened this year he felt lucky once again to have them.

"If it's ok Harry," Seamus said quietly, "I'm gonna come by every day. I'll do my homework in here with you. I mean, if you want me around after the jerk I was being to you."

"Me too," Neville said brightly, "except the jerk part, because you know I wasn't."

Harry laughed and nodded.

"Well you're not getting rid of me," Ron said. "Just cuz you have your own room now doesn't mean you get to escape your best friend."

It was nearing curfew, which Ron noted on the clock above the fireplace, and so he started to usher the other boys out so they could get back to Gryffindor tower. At the door, he turned to Harry and said, "All right, yeah? We'll be back in the morning to get you on the way to breakfast if we don't see you in the common room first."

Harry gave a nod, and Ron closed the door on his way out.

They had left, but he didn't feel alone like he had before. Ignoring his homework, and the notes he needed to study for the Herbology test he had this week, Harry climbed under the covers of the new bed and waved the lights down with his wand. Snape was a nutter. This wouldn't help him at all. He was comforted by the fact that the other boys seemed willing to go where he went though... to spend time here in this foreign apprentice room with him when he'd been removed from the dorms in Gryffindor against his will. He wondered if Snape would ever realize just how much trouble he caused for Harry on a regular basis, or if he would even care.

Harry was grateful to see them, but surprised. It wasn't even seven yet and they didn't usually leave the common room to head to the Great Hall until seven fifteen.

"Erm, come in," Harry said, hair a mess. He was still wearing his pajamas. "Except you," he told Hermione. "You can't, there's a spell on the door. I can leave it open though."

Ron and Seamus stepped inside and Hermione waited by the door in the corridor awkwardly. "I don't think you can leave it open," she said, "or else every student passing by on their way to the Great Hall will look in and see you changing."

"I'll be quick. My wardrobe is in the bathroom so I'll change in there. Be right back." He hurried into the bathroom and changed with the bathroom door closed while Ron and Seamus sat by the fire. Hermione looked irritated to have to wait outside, but didn't say anything. They must have relayed to her how upset he had been the night before.

Harry was done and ready to leave in five minutes. He noted that Hermione was looking around from the doorway as best as she could.

"Sorry," Harry told her. "I'd let you in if I could."

"It'd be best if I didn't come in. Professor Umbridge could accuse you of doing something inappropriate. It's better this way for now."

Harry gave a nod as they left and he closed his bedroom door and noted that there was an audible click of a lock on the inside as he walked away from it.

He felt nervous as they walked down to the Great Hall. McGonagall had said he was still a Gryffindor, but he didn't know if the rest of the house would want him to sit at Gryffindor table or be in the common room now that he wasn't technically living there anymore. His social anxiety eased a little when they reached Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and Fred and George called out to him and waved him over. He and his friends took the seats that it appeared had been saved for them.

"It's brilliant really," George told him. "If we would have realized we could have our own rooms we would have applied for apprenticeships ages ago!"

"Can you imagine the trouble we could get into with our own quarters?" Fred asked. "The perfect place to experiment and come up with things for the joke shop!" Both boys turned to Harry and Fred said, "We couldn't use your room could we?"

"Erm-" the hairs on the back of his neck raised then, as if he was certain Umbridge was standing right behind him at that moment.

"Whoa, what's that look for?" George asked. All of his friends were staring at him now and Harry turned to look behind him just to be sure Umbridge or Filch weren't there. They were both up at the staff table. Filch was talking to Hagrid and Umbridge was writing something down in a notebook with a horridly pink quill.

"Just making sure Umbridge wasn't behind me while you conspired to use my room to get into trouble."

"You'd best not," Hermione said. "He's already in trouble enough and he hasn't even done anything. I'm sure she'll find some way to twist this turn of events to her favor."

When the twins didn't protest, Harry visibly relaxed.

"Nah, we don't want to get you in trouble," Fred told him. "Mum'd have a fit if she found out we got you expelled or something."

"Mum will have a fit if you're expelled," Ginny reminded them. "Do I want to know what you're planning?" Recently the twins had begun to hand out candy to younger students to test it on them. Some of the candies did harmless things like change your hair colors for a short period of time, but others made you throw up or have a fever. The twins had started to call the candy ‘skivs' and Hermione had gotten on to them several times for peddling them as a way to get out of class.

Umbridge appeared to be ignoring him again that day, refusing to call on him if he raised his hand in class, though at the same time she was keeping a closer than usual eye on him. She kept looking at him in class and then going to her desk to write down something in the notebook he'd seen her with at breakfast.

After dinner, Harry told his friends he had to meet McGonagall in her office to learn the rules about being a Prefect, and was surprised when Hermione went with him.

"Why are you going?" Harry asked, thinking she must have a question for their Head of House.

"She'll be going over rules and responsibilities for Prefects with you. She'll assign you a Prefect mentor for your first month. I was hoping if I went she'd assign the two of us to work together. It would mean we'd patrol together."

"Oh," Harry said with a frown. Ron and Hermione sometimes talked about their Prefect duties, but Harry knew little of what being a Prefect actually entailed. He'd been told off by various Prefects over the years, or helped by them, but he hadn't been disappointed to find out he wasn't one when Ron and Hermione had received their Prefect badges.

"Ron was assigned to a seventh year boy in our first month, and I was working with a sixth year girl. It only lasts for a month. It's just to be sure you aren't abusing the system and can learn everything you need to."

"Is it a lot of extra work?" Harry asked warily. He'd barely had time the last two weeks to study his apprentice books, and worried that Snape would want to quiz him on what he was learning again soon.

"Well, Prefects are sort of the eyes and ears for the staff. So you just need to keep an eye out for wrong doing or students that need help. You're sort of always on duty. Then two nights a week you patrol the corridors for one hour before curfew and one hour after. There's Prefect meetings once a month that you have to attend as well. They only last an hour. And then because you're a Prefect staff will start asking you to do things. Like last week when Professor Flitwick gave me the password to his office and asked me to go get the stack of parchments he'd forgotten to bring to class. It's not a terrible amount of extra work, not really," she said. Harry supposed she was right, that it wasn't a lot of work for a regular student. For Harry though it felt like it was a mountain of extra things he had to worry about.

McGonagall seemed pleased to see Hermione with Harry when she let them into her office a few minutes later.

"Miss Granger, good, you're just who I had in mind to mentor Mr. Potter. Have you already begun explaining things to him?"

"Some," she said, telling their head of house what they'd already gone over.

McGonagall pulled a Prefect badge out of her top desk drawer and handed it to Harry. It was silver around the edges and deep red in the center. Harry noted that it was different than the ones Ron and Hermione wore. Theirs, like Prefects from other houses, had gold around the edges. Harry's also said APPRENTICE under the word PREFECT.

"Harry," McGonagall said as Hermione took the badge from him and began to pin it on the chest of his robes on the left side. "You already have special privileges as an apprentice, as we've been over before. Not only in having apprentice quarters, but also being able to leave school grounds during the term and doing other things as Professor Snape gives you permission to do. Now you'll have the added role and privileges of being a Prefect."

Hermione stepped back when she was done with Harry's badge and sat down in one of the student desks, and then Harry did the same.

"You'll have access to the Prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor. Hermione can show you where it is. You'll also be allowed out after curfew if given permission by a Professor or to carry out Prefect duties. This will be in effect not only if you are on patrol, but if you should need to fetch a Professor for a problem in the common room or anywhere in the castle. You're still not allowed in sections of the school or grounds that are out of bounds such as the Forbidden Forest."

"Yes maam."

"You have the ability to take points from students for infractions, but it needs to be something worth taking points over. Every point taken by a Prefect is reviewed at the end of the week by me, and any time you take a point, the student you took points off of can dispute the point loss. As a Prefect you need to ensure you're above reproach. This means making sure you are absolutely in the right when you take points from a student or tell a student to do something. As a Prefect students will not only look up to you, but they must listen to you if you tell them to do something, just as they must listen to staff. Students will be looking to you for answers if there is an emergency. This badge signifies that you have been given authority over them by the staff. You must use that authority wisely."

Harry nodded. "I will," he promised.

She gave him a soft look and then smiled. "I know you will do Gryffindor proud Harry. Your parents would be very proud of you. They were both Prefects you know. They were Head Boy and Head Girl in their seventh year."

In his first and second year Harry had spent a lot of time in the trophy corridor on the third floor staring at the photo of his parents in the Head Boy and Head Girl showcase. Their badges were there along with their photos, and he had spent countless hours imagining going to school while they were Head Boy and Girl and what that must have been like.

"Miss Granger, would you please take Harry to the Prefect's meeting this evening and see that he gets on the patrol schedule? It starts in ten minutes. You have just enough time to get down there if you hurry. I have already informed the Head Boy and Girl of Harry's addition to the roster."

"Yes maam."

Harry stood up, looking confused. "The Prefect meeting is tonight?"

"The second Monday of every month," Hermione said, motioning with her hands for Harry to hurry up so they wouldn't be late. Harry thanked Professor McGonagall and then let Hermione hurry him down through the castle. Apparently the Prefects met in a room just down the Hufflepuff corridor off of the Great Hall. Harry wasn't keen on stepping foot down the Hufflepuff corridor, but reasoned that he was with Hermione and that there would be other Prefects around so it shouldn't be too bad. The Hufflepuff Prefects had left him alone for the most part, though it hadn't stopped them from giving him dark or wary looks.

As Hermione pushed the door open to the Prefect meeting room, 22 pairs of eyes came around to them. Ron was already there and seemed to have saved them both a seat on a couch against the far wall. There were couches and squashy chairs around the walls of the room facing in and a large rug on the floor depicting all four house crests. It looked like a comfortable place to meet. There was even a small fireplace which was crackling away merrily. Harry looked at his feet as he crossed the room to sit with Ron, feeling out of place.

The Head Boy and Girl stood up at the front of the room by the fire and the boy called the meeting to order. He was a Ravenclaw named Darius. The Head Girl this year was a Slytherin named Aoife and she had flowing locks of long black hair.

"As everyone can see," Darius said, "we have a new Prefect. Welcome Potter. We'll get you on the schedule tonight before you leave." That was the only attention that was paid to Harry for the rest of the meeting, and Harry was relieved. Draco and Pansy were watching him closely from across the room, but Harry ignored them, hoping Draco didn't want to start anything up there in front of the others.

The Head Boy and Girl went over house password changes, and Harry was surprised he was being given the passwords to all of the houses. He'd had no idea other people knew how to get into Gryfindor.

There were mundane things to go over like students who had been causing issues in certain houses, (Harry's ears perked as they talked about the skivving candy from Ron's brothers), as well as information about decorating the castle in the next few days for the holidays. Before the meeting ended a warning went around to all of them to keep students out of Umbridge's hair and to be wary of her, and Harry was perturbed to hear his name come up again.

"As you all know, Potter here has been harassed by Professor Umbridge throughout the term despite not having done anything wrong. Just recently she wanted him to be expelled for carrying out a project that had been assigned to him by Professor Snape. It's important we make sure everyone's on the up and up to keep them out of trouble."

Darius gave a worried look to Aoife and she cleared her throat and said, "There's a rumor that's been going around. We've already reported it to Professor McGonagall. A student from Hufflepuff came back from detention with her and was injured. We're not exactly sure how he was injured, other than that he had cuts on his hand. It's important we keep everyone out of trouble right now."

Goosebumps rose up on Harry's skin again like they had that morning. She'd hurt someone in detention? He shuddered and noted that a lot of the other Prefects in the room seemed to have gone pale at the thought that a teacher was hurting students.

"What are they doing about her?" a seventh year boy Harry didn't know from Ravenclaw asked.

"They're doing what they can," Darius said. "Which isn't a whole lot. Right now it's on us to keep kids out of her way. That can be difficult if she's set her sights on someone." Darius looked in Harry's direction again but didn't say anything to him. "Everyone just do the best you can."

The meeting ended but no one left yet. Some people stood up to talk with each other, and others lined up at the front of the room where Aoife had a clipboard with a piece of parchment.

"C'mon, we need to get you on the schedule," Hermione told him, and he went to stand in line with her. Ron cut the line and so did Draco and a few others, and when Harry gave Hermione a questioning look, she said, "Quidditch players can't patrol on practice nights, so they get to go on the patrol schedule first."

"Potter, up front," Darius said when he walked down the line.

"Me?" Harry asked.

"You have prior activities that have to be worked around. Front of the line with the Quidditch players."

Feeling embarrassed to cut the queue, Harry moved to the front and Hermione went with him. No one in line seemed to mind, though it didn't do much to ease Harry's anxiety or make his ears stop being red.

When Draco was done getting his name on the schedule, he left the room. Ron left a minute later, and when the other Quidditch players were gone, Aoife looked up at Harry with a smile and said, "Now then, what nights does Professor Snape have you occupied already?" She turned the clipboard around so Harry could see that it was a monthly schedule.

"Erm... none right now," Harry said.

"Well that works out then."

"Do you want me to go to the back of the line?"

"No, you're here now. Let's get you on the schedule." She looked up to Hermione and asked, "Are you his mentor for the month?"

She nodded and Aoife asked, "Are there nights you have prior engagements?"

"I have a study group on Friday and Saturday nights, but if those are the only nights we can have I understand."

"How about we give you Friday's this month and give you Saturdays off. That'll give others a chance to have Fridays off. Then we'll put the two of you on for Mondays, that way you can show Harry the ropes tonight since it's almost curfew anyway."

"Great Hermione said."

Harry watched as some of his time was signed away for two hours on Friday nights for the next two weeks and two hours Monday nights.

"Are either of you going to be here this year for Christmas?" she asked.

"Both of us," Harry said.

"You'll have extra patrols that week then since there won't be too many Prefects staying. It'll be more relaxed than during the term though."

When they were done a moment later, Hermione led Harry out, and looking at her watch said, "Ok, normally we'd be out from eight to ten, but it's already eight thirty so we're starting half an hour late, which is ok on meeting nights."

"What do we do?" Harry knew Ron and Hermione sometimes went out to ‘patrol' but didn't know what all that entailed.

"We walk around the school until ten pm and make sure students get in before curfew. That's about it. We have to stay inside the castle. Everyone has their own route they like to take. It doesn't matter which route we take so long as we get all the main areas of the castle and check all the nooks and crannies where people like to hide and snog."

Harry gaped at her and she giggled. "We don't find people too often. Last week Ron had to have an awkward conversation with two seventh year Ravenclaws though."

They went down the Hufflepuff corridor to the end, which made Harry uncomfortable, but it was a quick trip and they turned around and went through the Entrance Hall and then down into the Dungeons.

"The Slytherins and Hufflepuffs usually start in the upper castle so they can make their way down to their common rooms by the end of their shifts. I like to start at the bottom and make my way up. It works out well this way since I know none of the Prefects from Slytherin and Hufflepuff are down here right now."

They went down the Slytherin corridor where Hermione reminded a pair of first years that they were out half an hour past their curfew, but she didn't take points and told them not to let it happen again.

"No point loss?" Harry asked.

"If I take points from the Sltyherins they'll do extra patrols around Gryffindor. Ron found that out the hard way our first week back. I'd rather they just learn their lesson anyhow and get into their common rooms instead of being afraid of me taking points. The younger year Slytherins are already afraid of other houses as it is."

"They are?"

"They get picked on a lot for being in Slytherin."

"Huh."

After patrolling the dungeon classroom corridors and the corridor with Snape's office and quarters and not finding any more students, they made their way up through the castle. At nine all of the students were supposed to be in their houses, and Harry found it exciting to be out after curfew when no one else was allowed to be. They went into the library to make sure it was clear of students, and Harry stopped to talk with Madam Pince for a few minutes. As her quarters were through a door just by the library entrance, she usually stayed in the library late in case any staff members wanted to come in to chat or check something out.

By ten pm they'd been up to the Astronomy tower, to the Hospital Wing, and down all of the classroom corridors. They'd passed a pair of Ravenclaw Prefects and stopped to chat, and then made their way back towards Gryffindor. They were all the way back to the portrait hole when Harry remembered he no longer lived in the tower and couldn't go in with Hermione. It made him sad because they sometimes stayed in the common room until late and didn't go to bed until midnight or later. He couldn't do that now since he didn't have permission to be out after ten pm tonight to get back to his room.

"I'm sorry," Hermione told him with a wince.

"It's ok. I'll see you tomorrow."

Harry went back to his room and tapped the door with his wand, giving it the password, "ink cap." The door opened and when he went in he was disappointed to find the room cold and the fire lifeless.

Harry used his wand to wave the flames up in the fireplace and went into the bathroom to change, thankful when he came back out that the room was warm. As he lay in bed staring at the canopy of his four-poster that night going over everything he'd learned that day, his mind kept returning to the upcoming holidays and Hermione's promise that she was staying this year so he wouldn't be alone. At least he had one thing to look forward to. Classes would be over so he'd have less to do, and he'd be able to relax in the common room with his friend and not have to worry about anything. Harry only wished things could be that simple, and that Snape didn't have the power to interfere with his plans.

* * *

Seamus and Neville came to hang out with Harry several nights that week in his room. Ron came on the nights he didn't have Quidditch practice, and Dean spent most of Saturday in Harry's room with him studying, though Harry insisted they spend some of Saturday and all of Sunday in the common room by the fire. Harry was growing used to having his own quarters, but he missed the presence of the others in the common room.

The common room was decorated for Christmas now with red garlands and an enormous tree near the fire. The elves had brought in a smaller tree for Harry to decorate in his quarters, and Seamus had come with a box of ornaments and two garlands from the common room to help him.

When they were done decorating Harry's tree, which was about as tall as Harry was, he turned to Seamus and said, "I'm not complaining about having you around all the time, but-"

"But what?" Seamus asked, picking up bits of garland that had left tinsel across Harry's floor and putting them in the empty cardboard box.

"I know you feel guilty. I don't want you to have to spend time with me just because of that."

Seamus shrugged. "You're gonna be here for Christmas. So am I. We might as well spend time together yeah? Can't neither one of us go home."

"You're staying?"

He nodded. "If I go back I think mum may kidnap me and send me to some Muggle boarding school. Da' was never too sure about Hogwarts anyway since he's a Muggle. Last week mum said something about a school called Smeltings."

"Oh no," Harry laughed. "My cousin goes there. If he found out you were a wizard he'd chase you down and hit you with his Smeltings stick."

"See," Seamus said, sounding miserable. "Best if I stay here."

"Yeah," Harry said. He had no desire to go home to be hit with Dudley's Smelting's stick either. He was glad he'd have two friends spending the holiday at the castle.

"I thought- when you were angry with me before-," Harry said. "I didn't know it was because of your mum and dad. I thought it was because of Cedric."

Seamus paled. "I would never- that wasn't your fault."

Harry looked away.

"Don't believe them," Seamus finished, voice angry. "The Hufflepuffs are upset. It's not your fault though and you blaming yourself won't make them happy."

Harry sighed. The Hufflepuffs hadn't let up in their taunts at all, especially once they'd seen that Harry wasn't going to chastise them or take points from them now that he was a Prefect. Harry had kept up with his previous plans to avoid the Hufflepuffs at all costs, so when they said things to him about Cedric he looked away, or passed them without a word. Snape must have noticed the Hufflepuffs were still giving him a hard time, because he called Harry into his office two days before the Christmas break.

"We need to discuss travel arrangements for the holidays."

Harry raised his brows. "Sir? I'm staying here for Christmas. Hermione and Seamus are staying back as well."

"You are speaking to Mr. Finnegan again?"

"He apologized."

"I see. That does not negate the fact that you will not be staying."

Harry frowned. "Are we going to a gathering to get ingredients?"

"We are not. I must stay at the castle this year as it is my year to supervise students. You will be returning home to your relatives. I am sure they are eager to see you."

Harry paled. He felt dizzy suddenly and felt behind him for one of the two visitor chairs in Snape's office, and then sat in one of them.

"But sir, I always stay at the castle for Christmas. My relatives make other plans. Sometimes they go on holiday somewhere." When they did it was to see aunt Marge and Harry definitely didn't want to see her. That would be the worst Christmas ever.

"I sent an owl off this morning informing them you would be returning. After school lets out Friday I will apparate you to Privet Drive. Your relatives will need to drive you to the train station on January 5th so you can return on the Hogwarts Express."

Harry didn't know what to say to him. The man had already made plans and informed his relatives, but Harry had to make him understand somehow that this was a bad idea.

"Sir, they really won't want me home for the holidays this year."

Snape's dark eyes came up to meet Harrys. "Why not?"

Harry's mind scrambled for anything that would make sense to the man. "We fought the last time I saw them. They were glad they weren't going to see me again until summer." The best lies were always ones rooted in truth. Snape didn't seem to think it was a good excuse however.

"They are your family. They will not remain mad at you through the holidays. The plans have already been made."

"But Hermione's staying back this year because of me."

"Then I suggest you tell her now so she can make plans with her own family." He seemed frustrated and looked up at Harry again. Harry thought his next words would be harsh but they seemed tired... wary maybe. "You've had a rough term Potter. It would be best if you weren't here over the holidays where Umbridge will have free time to find things to punish you for."

"I could stay in my room and study."

"You can study in Surrey. The decision has been made. See that you are packed and ready to leave by five on Friday evening."

"Yes sir." His voice was shaky and so was he as he rose to leave his office.

Harry found Ron and Hermione in the common room right away and told them the terrible news.

"That's bonkers," Ron said with a scowl. "He shouldn't have this much control over you. It's the holidays. There's got to be a law against him scheduling out your free time."

"There is a law, but only for apprentices over 17," Harry said miserably. He looked up at Hermione and said, "I'm sorry. I wrecked your plans too."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "My parents will be thrilled to see me. They were going to visit my aunt and uncle and wanted me to come."

Harry turned to see if he could find Seamus and went up to the boys dorms to see if he was there. Seamus looked unhappy to be spending Christmas alone, but couldn't fault Harry for wanting to return to his relatives over the break. Harry didn't correct his notion of Harry wanting to go home.

Once again alone in his room later that evening, he looked at his little tree twinkling with fairy lights by the fire.

He wished he could just disappear. He wanted to throw his invisibility cloak over himself and hide somewhere until Snape forgot about sending him away for Christmas. That could work if Snape wasn't going to stick around the castle for the next few weeks. Feeling resigned to be miserable over Christmas, Harry climbed under the covers on his bed and tried to calm his anxiety. Uncle Vernon was going to be so mad.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, thoroughly chilled now from the cold air and falling snow. Petunia opened it and stared at him, not inviting him in, though she did step aside so he could get in out of the cold. She didn't look angry, but she did look wary of him being there.

"Your uncle is out," she said. "Take your things up to your room and then make yourself a sandwich. He'll be home soon with takeout."

"Yes aunt Petunia."

Dudley was in the living room watching the telly but didn't seem to notice that anyone had come into the house at all.

Harry took his backpack with clothes and a few of his apprentice books up the stairs and set it at the foot of his bed on the floor. The room was cold and lifeless, and for the first time Harry wished he was back in his own quarters by the warm fire with the sparkling Christmas tree.

As he went back downstairs he noted that the Dursleys had a tree decorated all in white fairy lights with blue and white ornaments and ribbons in the living room next to the telly. There were already two dozen presents beneath it. It seemed they weren't going to see aunt Marge this year then.

Just as Harry finished making himself a sandwich, his uncle came in with takeout, and Harry held his breath, hoping his uncle would remember that he hadn't minded Harry's presence so much that summer.

Vernon came into the kitchen and set down a huge paper sack of food. It smelled amazing but Harry didn't think there would be any for him, so he took a bite of his cold ham and cheese sandwich at the counter and watched, eyes wary as his uncle's eyes took in his appearance.

"Why did you come back?" his uncle asked. He wasn't angry yet, or if it was he was hiding it well, which was something he wasn't usually good at.

"Professor Snape thought it would be better if I had a break from school."

"And why is that? How are your grades?"

"I'm top of the class in Potions. I have passing grades in everything else."

"I thought you said you were top of your class in something else... Defense?"

"Not this term."

"Why not?" his uncle snapped.

Harry looked up at him through the fringe of his bangs to see just how angry he was. "It was a rough term. I've been getting much higher marks in Herbology... I did a big project for Potions that got me extra credit in Herbology too."

"Don't make excuses," Vernon said, though he turned back to the bag of takeaway and began pulling boxes of food out and setting them on the dining room table. It appeared that there probably was enough food for Harry, but Harry wasn't invited to eat with them and was sent to his room by aunt Petunia as soon as he finished his sandwich and washed his plate.

That night before bed his aunt pushed Harry's door open and stood in the doorframe, taking in his appearance. Her eyes swept over his hair and then down to his nicer than normal clothes and then over his frame, as if looking for injuries or anything else that had changed about him. If anything he was bulkier than normal because he was well fed at Hogwarts.

"Why was it a rough term?" she asked. Her eyes were cold, as though she didn't care as she stood there with her bony arms crossed over her chest. Harry wasn't sure why she was asking though. The fantasy he'd had flashed before his mind again, of her greeting him and asking how school had been for him.

"There's a new teacher in Defense. She's not very nice. She's been trying to get me in trouble. She tried to have me expelled but master Snape stopped her."

"What did you do?" she asked. "For her to try to expel you?"

Harry looked down at the bed, wishing she didn't look so... empty, when talking to him, like she couldn't care less. He couldn't figure why she was asking at all.

"Nothing. I was doing a project for potions. The other teachers gave me points and extra credit for working so hard. She accused me of all sorts of things."

"And that's why Snape sent you back for Christmas?" she asked, voice positively icy.

Harry willed his voice to be steady as he said, "He thought after being away all term you would want to see me for Christmas."

She didn't say anything for long moments and Harry looked up. He caught a brief look of sadness in her eyes before she turned and left his door without a word. Twenty minutes passed and Dudley came into his room.

"Mum says to tell you dad's off work for the next two weeks. We're going to see aunt Marge next week. She said to stay up here if you can and out of his way."

"Thanks," Harry said. Dudley gave him a nod and left.

Christmas was off to such a lovely start.

* * *

Harry never did anything to provoke his uncle. His aunt always warned him not to and he always did his best to heed that advice knowing the consequences for being anywhere in the vicinity if Vernon was upset for any reason. It had never stopped his uncle from seeking him out to take his anger out on him though. Harry didn't know what his uncle had been upset about this time. His uncle hadn't even seemed upset when he'd thrashed him three nights after he'd returned to Little Whinging. He'd simply walked up to Harry and done his worst. Harry almost thought that his uncle just didn't want to take him to Marge's house because she despised him, and had done his best to make Harry run away. It had worked.

He winced as his backpack rubbed his shoulder in just the wrong way as he crossed Little Winging on foot. It was early, just five am, and the sun was just starting to rise as he traipsed through the snow, white flakes still gently falling from the sky.

He was sure his ribs were broken, and potentially his collar bone too, though he was hoping it was just badly bruised. He had a black eye, but was thankful his uncle hadn't done more to bruise his face. If he kept his hoodie on, it hid the bruises on the right side of his neck and shoulder well enough, as well as the bruises on his arms.

Harry didn't have another place to go in Little Winging other than the library, so that's where he went. It would be warm inside at least, and he could have a few hours to plan out his next move. He could potentially ask for money from people on the street so he could take a bus to London, or even down to Ottery St. Catchpole so he could spend the holidays with Ron. Snape would be pissed if he ever found out Harry had spent Christmas with Ron's family, but let him be pissed. He wasn't the one out walking around in the snow aching from head to toe.

He used his hand to clear snow away from a spot on one of the steps leading up to the front of the library and sat down, hood pulled up over his head and sitting hunched forward to try to conserve body heat until the library opened. It was another two hours before he started to see cars drive by on the main road, and a familiar voice spoke, startling him in the quietness of the snow covered town.

"Harry? Is that you?"

He looked up and was glad to see the only friendly face in Little Whinging, Mrs. Clarke the librarian. She stared at him for a few moments, eyes drawn to the black eye he'd received the evening before.

"Come inside. Come on now, I'll unlock the door. It's too cold for you out here."

Harry stood up and followed her up the steps and into the library without a word. It wouldn't open for another hour yet, but he was thankful she trusted him enough to let him inside. She led him to the front counter and then behind it where the librarians worked. He took a seat on one of the stools behind the counter like he'd done so many times that summer while working there.

"I thought you were with your great uncle," she said quietly.

"I was."

She gave another look to his black eye. "Have you been? Really? Or have you been with your aunt and uncle all this time?" She sounded as though she was really worried that he'd been stuck here, and a tenseness he hadn't realized he'd been holding in his stomach and shoulders let go. It had been there since he'd returned four evenings before.

"He had to go away on a business trip," Harry lied. "He brought me back here a few days ago... just for the holidays."

"Can you call him?"

"He's across the pond," Harry lied again.

She gave his black eye a look again and then said, "I'd like to just call the police, but I doubt that will help you in any way."

"It won't," Harry told her, looking away.

Harry didn't know what was happening at first when she stepped towards him and wrapped him up in a hug. He stiffened because she was touching a dozen bruises, but she wasn't squeezing him tight enough to hurt his ribs, so he relaxed and hugged her back. It was the welcome he'd wanted from Petunia but had never gotten. No one was ever glad to see him aside from his friends, and it felt so nice to be back in a safe place with someone that did care.

After long moments, Harry let go and she stepped back. "What can I do to help you Harry?"

He shook his head. He didn't know. "I have friends in Ottery St. Catchpole that would have me for the holidays until we go back to school. Or I could just go back to my great uncle's flat in London. He was going to come back in a few days anyway."

"You'd be safe there?" she asked, and Harry nodded.

"The library closes at five tonight. There's no one else working today so I have to stay. I can drive you this evening though. Have you eaten anything today?"

"No maam."

"We'll order something in for breakfast and lunch then. I can't have my best helper going hungry all day."

"You don't have to. I don't have any money to pay you back right now."

"I don't need money for a few meals for a friend," she chastised him lightly. "If you're going to insist on not eating until you pay me back, you can shelve some books while we wait for breakfast to come."

He gave her half a smile and moved gingerly for the cart of books behind the desk waiting to be reshelved. If Umbridge hadn't been so adamant about checking Harry and his friends so frequently, he would have taken refuge in the Potions nook of the Hogwarts library more often. He missed it even, because he hadn't been there in weeks.

She called for takeaway and twenty minutes later a boy just a few years older than Harry delivered two styrofoam boxes full of eggs, muffins and bangers. There was still another half an hour before the library opened, so Harry didn't rush to finish his breakfast.

"How have you been Harry?" she asked him, watching him as he finished his meal as they sat behind the front counter together.

"All right."

"How have you been really? How has school been?"

He shrugged.

"Tell me about it," she prompted him.

"There's a new teacher that's been trying to get me in trouble every day. She searches my bag and if I'm with my friends she searches them too. I never have anything worth getting in trouble for though. She tried to get me expelled a couple weeks ago."

"Oh dear," she said.

"The other teachers know I'm not doing anything wrong. I was made a Prefect actually," Harry said.

"Really? That's wonderful."

"Prefects get extra privileges and duties. Two of my friends are Prefects too. There's a special Prefects bathroom and a meeting room where we have meetings once a month."

"I'm so proud of you Harry. Are you doing well in classes?"

He nodded. "I'm passing everything and I'm top of my class in Chemistry," he said.

"That's wonderful. It makes sense with your great uncle being who he is."

"Hm?" Harry asked, focused on scooping up the rest of his eggs.

"Your great uncle. You said he worked for a pharmaceutical company and travels a lot."

"Oh," Harry nodded, mind trying to search for whatever he'd told her before about this new mysterious relative that he'd been living with. "Yeah. He's been teaching me a lot. He wants me to go into Chemistry after I graduate."

"Is that what you want?" she asked.

He shrugged.

After the library opened they continued their conversation off and on throughout the day. Harry offered to shelve more books despite no longer being on the payroll, and she let him. He was happy to help given that she had volunteered to drive him to London that evening which was an hour away.

She ordered delivery for lunch, and then at five when the library closed, took Harry by car to a restaurant where they ate a quick meal and started towards London.

"Do you know how to get to your house?" she asked him.

"It's a flat in Camden," Harry told her. "I can get us there."

"Do you like living with your great uncle?"

"Yeah, it's all right. Much better than with my aunt and uncle."

"I hope so," she said as they drove down the dark motorway.

"He buys me clothes and stuff, nice ones," Harry added. "And this was the first year in a while I had all the supplies I needed for school. That's why I was working this summer, to be able to buy my books and uniform. He bought them all this year." It wasn't exactly true, uncle Vernon had bought his books, and Harry had had to pay him back with what he'd earned from the library, but Snape had bought his apprentice books. "And I have a better room with him than I did in Little Whinging."

"That's good Harry," she said. Actually, once Harry started thinking about it, Snape had provided an awful lot for him. Everything he needed and more. The man hadn't needed to buy him the school cap and scarf, or a second trunk, or a very expensive pair of dragonhide gloves that were master grade. Beyond the required items Harry wasn't really sure why Snape had bought those things. The man and his motives were often still a mystery to Harry. Ron maintained that Snape was bonkers. Harry wasn't sure if he was or if he wasn't, only that he frequently made things worse for him. If he was honest though, really honest, Snape often made things better for him too. He had saved him from Umbridge under the Pitch, and had gotten him away from the Dursleys off and on over the summer. He had even gotten him away from Umbridge over Halloween and given Harry an adventure with Soren he was certain he'd never forget.

"So thoughtful?" she asked.

Harry laughed a little. "My best friend Ron thinks he's bonkers."

"Is he?"

"Just eccentric," Harry said. Snape wasn't, not by any means of the word. Dumbledore was eccentric. Snape was just... difficult at the best of times.

As they made it into Camden an hour later, Harry kept an eye out for the opening to the little magical alley and after a few minutes said, "This is it. We can park on the street." She pulled over and turned the car off.

"Thank you," Harry said. "For feeding me and letting me get out of the cold this morning and driving me here."

"It's really no trouble Harry."

He opened the door to get out and she opened hers to get out as well. He paused and said, "Erm, are you coming too?"

"It's dark. I want to make sure you get inside safely."

Harry didn't know what to do. Camden Alley didn't scream magic but he'd definitely be in trouble for bringing a Muggle in. It was dark and he wagered she wouldn't be able to read the apothecary sign at the end of the alley, but still. People on the alley knew he was Snape's apprentice and he would catch hell if they got angry and told Snape about it. They might even contact him before the holidays were over and then Harry really would be in trouble.

"It's a private neighborhood," he said. "It's gated. We're not supposed to bring other people in. I don't want to get my uncle in trouble."

"I don't think he'll mind terribly," she said, getting out of the car and shutting the door. "You're his nephew and you're young. I think he'll care more about you getting inside. You have a key don't you?"

Harry nodded and shut the car door. He didn't have a key, he had a password. He had the password to the gate that would let them in too, and hoped it hadn't changed since he'd been there that summer, not that he'd ever had a chance to use it as he wasn't allowed out of the alley and into Muggle London on his own.

Harry hurried ahead of her to the gate and whispered the password, relieved when the gate clicked open. He held the black gate open for her and led her through the tunnel under one of the tall buildings and into the alley between the bookstore and stationer's shop.

"It's down at the other end," Harry said, pointing. The alley was empty despite that it was before seven. There was a string of warm yellow lights above the bookstore, and down the side alley Harry could hear a few people talking as one of the restaurants was still open.

"This seems like a nice little pocket of London," she said as they made the stairs leading up to the upper flats in Snape's building.

"It's quiet," Harry told her. He led her upstairs and barely breathed the password to the door as he pretended to fiddle with the door knob as if he had a key. It opened and he led her inside and flipped the switch, dropping his bag on the floor.

"This is your home?" she asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Kind of hard to see because it's dark but there's a little balcony that overlooks the alley. There's actually a lot of people that live here. Even some kids that go to my school live across the alley." He'd never interacted with any of them, but he knew who some of them were. He opened the door that led to his room and said, "This one's mine." It was pretty sparse inside since all of his things were at school, but it was as he had left it the last time he'd been there. The bed was made and the desk chair was pushed in under the desk.

Mrs. Clarke nodded in approval and then put a hand on each of his shoulders. "I'm glad you have a safe place Harry. As much as I'd love to see you on a regular basis, please try to convince your great uncle that it's not safe for you to return to your aunt and uncle's house in Surrey." She looked at his black eye again, which Harry knew looked pretty bad despite that some of the swelling had gone down since it was almost a full 24 hours since he'd been hit. "I don't want you to get hurt again."

"I'll tell him," Harry lied, trying his best to sound sincere. Snape would never believe him if he did tell him. If Harry could just lie low here until January 5th then he could get back on the train to school and Snape would never have to know he'd run away at all.

Harry told her he wanted to walk her back to the alley entrance, that way if anyone saw then his great uncle wouldn't get in trouble for bringing strangers into the neighborhood and letting them wander alone.

As they walked back down the dark alley, she said, "I mean it Harry. I want you to tell him the truth. I don't think he'd make you go back there again if he knew."

"I will."

"What about food?" she asked.

"There's food in the pantry," he lied. He hoped Snape had left something in the cupboards, but wasn't sure if he had or not. "He'll be back in a few days."

"He has a phone doesn't he? If you need anything, look up the library in the phonebook and call me."

"I will, I promise."

At the gate she gave him another hug, they wished each other Merry Christmas, and then she left, facing an hour drive back to Surrey. Harry was sorry to see her go. It would be lonely in Snape's flat without her there to talk to. It had felt so nice having someone ask about his term at school and to be proud of him for becoming a Prefect. He'd only become a Prefect because of his status as an apprentice, but still. It was nice to have something to be proud of, and someone to be proud of him for it.

As Harry walked back down the alley, hands in his pockets to keep himself warm, he didn't know there was a set of eyes watching him from the flat above the stationer's shop. His mind was on his Prefect duties and the patrols he'd spent talking to Hermione over the last two weeks. This was the first time he'd really felt proud to be a Prefect. Is this what his parents had felt like when they'd become Prefects? He knew Ron was proud to be one, despite that Fred and George often teased him about it. Now he knew why. Only a few students each year became Prefects... there were only 24, well, now 25, and as McGonagall had said, students looked up to them and listened to them. The younger Gryffindors had definitely been paying him more heed since he'd got his Prefect badge.

Back in Snape's flat Harry locked the door and searched the cupboards. He wasn't hungry now, but he would be in the morning. There was nothing in them. Not even a can of soup or a tin of tuna. They were empty.

This was a fine mess he'd somehow gotten himself into. Maybe it wasn't too late to try to make it to Ron's house, though he was certain Ottery St. Catchpole was hours east. It was too far to walk when he was hurt, and he didn't have any money with him.

Harry decided to go to bed and tackle the issue of food or transport to Ron's house in the morning as there was nothing more he could do about it that night.

* * *

Two days had passed in the flat without food. Harry had spent his time trying to study his apprentice books, though the hungrier he got the harder it became to focus. Eventually he gave up and took to the window leading to the balcony where he could watch people below. He didn't want to go out onto the balcony because he didn't want people to know he was there and contact Snape about a squatter living in his home. That was the last thing he needed... Snape breaking down the door in a rage. The man would yell himself senseless over Harry disrespecting his home and personal belongings.

To be fair, Harry did feel wrong about being there. It was odd living in Snape's home without him there. It was lonely and cold, but also the only safe place Harry really had access to until he could figure out how to get to Ron's house. He could borrow an owl from someone on the alley, but that led to the same issue of them potentially contacting Snape about Harry being there when he shouldn't be.

By the third evening at Snape's flat, Harry's mind was feeling fuzzy from hunger. His stomach ached along with his bruises and broken bones, and the only thing he could do to try to make himself feel full was drink lots of water from the tap.

Harry was sitting on the couch spacing out, mind jumbled as he thought back over the term in a haze of hunger when someone knocked on the front door. He frowned, hoping it wasn't a neighbor. He rose and looked through the peephole. It was the woman that worked at the Chinese restaurant on the side alley.

He unlocked the door and opened it, senses immediately being assaulted by an array of good smells coming from a white plastic sack she held in her hands. Clearly she was supposed to be delivering food and had gone to the wrong flat.

She held it out to him, and too hungry to think of a proper response, Harry asked dumbly, "What's this?"

"Food."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't order anything."

She just stared at him and held the little bag with a takeaway box out to him.

Harry turned and looked around, as if some coins would just appear on the kitchen counter to pay her with. "I can't," Harry said, "I don't have any money to pay you with."

She held out the bag even more insistently. "Take it."

Harry reached out hesitantly and took the bag. There was some kind of terrible... delicious mistake. The smell of the food was making his stomach rumble. He wanted to rip the bag open and eat every morsel of whatever he found inside. He looked up from the bag to ask if she was able to put it on Snape's tab or something, but she was already gone. She'd disappeared so quietly that Harry startled to find the landing empty.

He was sure there would be hell to pay when Snape found out he had accidentally ordered takeaway and put it on his tab, but Harry would deal with that when the time came. For now there was food and he hadn't eaten in two full days.

Harry hurried into the kitchen and pulled open the silverware drawer. In his haste he accidentally grabbed two forks, and hurried to sit on the stool at the counter. Inside the box were noodles, chicken, vegetables, and a delicious sauce. It was one of the meals Snape had ordered during the summer, and Harry was grateful to have something in his stomach. He didn't know when his next meal would come or from where. There were still more than two weeks left until it was time to go back to school, and while he knew he could go several days without eating, he didn't think he could go for weeks.

Stomach full, Harry threw the box and plastic bag away and washed his fork, putting it back in the silverware drawer. For the first time since he'd been there, he fell into a peaceful sleep, stomach full.

* * *

Harry was surprised when there was another knock on the door around lunch time the next day. Surely everyone on Camden Alley knew Snape was away for the school year, and aside from the woman that had accidentally given him someone else's food the night before, he hadn't expected anyone else to come knocking.

The knocking grew more insistent as Harry pondered on who could be on the other side, and when he finally opened it, he was surprised to see the delivery woman again. She held out a plastic bag that looked like it had two food boxes in it this time.

"Take it," she said.

"Is this going on Professor Snape's tab?" Harry asked warily. He was excited for the food, even whilst being wary of the consequences of taking it.

"It was already paid for." She pointed at the food and said, "Lunch and dinner. Eat every bite. Don't waste it."

"I won't," Harry said. "What do you mean it was already paid for?"

She seemed to be busy though, like she had other deliveries to get to, and ignored his question as she hurried off down the stairs. Harry shut and locked the door and took the food to the counter. In one box there was fried rice with beef and vegetables, and in the other there was some kind of meat dumplings next to a small portion of meat and vegetables. Harry's mouth watered and he put one box in the Muggle fridge that ran on magic and took the fried rice to his spot at the counter to eat. He couldn't believe his luck, and didn't understand how someone could have already paid for these meals. Maybe Harry had been wrong and there was no tab. Maybe Snape had already pre-paid for a number of meals which Harry was now eating. He was certain the man would be upset with him and wondered how many meals the man had paid for in advance and why he would do such a thing.

Thinking there was no way the delivery woman would show up a third day in a row, Harry skipped dinner that night, eating only one of the dumplings in the fridge, and saving the rest for breakfast the next morning. He had to stretch any food he could get if he was going to make it back to Hogwarts.

The next day at lunch there was a knock on the door and when Harry opened it, the delivery woman wasn't there, but there was a bag with two boxes of food in it, along with a note. ‘I said eat every bite! Lunch and dinner! Don't waste food!'

How did she know? Harry took the two boxes to the counter and put one in the fridge without looking into it, and sat down to eat the other. This would be the first day all week where he would have three full meals. By the time he got through the delicious noodles he'd been brought for lunch, Harry decided he had to know what was going on. He didn't want to be seen out in the alley so Harry decided to go after dinner. He knew from the one time Snape had sent him to pick up takeaway over the summer that the little Chinese restaurant was open late until almost nine, so he waited until 8:50 to head out onto the dark alley, bundled in his favorite hoodie.

Down the side alley he went into the Chinese restaurant and waited at the counter. The elderly man that tended the restaurant was nowhere to be seen, but after a few minutes, the woman who had been delivering food to Harry that week came out, and gave him a wary look.

"Don't waste food," she chastised him.

"I won't," Harry said.

"You didn't eat every bite of what was given to you."

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I did. I was saving it for breakfast this morning. I ate it all."

She pursed her lips but didn't say anything to that. "No breakfast delivery. Only lunch and dinner."

Harry took this as his opportunity to ask her what exactly was going on. "I appreciate the food," he said, "but I don't understand why you're bringing it to me. Has Professor Snape pre-paid for it?" He wanted to say he would be in trouble for eating all of Snape's pre-bought food, but that would make Snape look bad, and the man was big on appearances within Camden Alley.

"Pre-paid... yes."

"I don't think I'm supposed to be eating his pre-bought meals," Harry said.

The woman scoffed, then sneered at him briefly, narrowed her eyes and said, "Not pre-paid for him. Pre-paid for you."

"For me?" Harry asked with surprise.

She pointed at a wall, and Harry's name was there on a little whiteboard, along with the exact location he slept. There were several other names there, though the locations they slept were written as, ‘Door stoop of 1412 Gloucester Ave,' and ‘Train tracks behind the wall of Dumpton Place.'

He looked back at her. "I don't understand," he said quietly.

"When people order from us they have the option of paying for an extra meal. The extra meals are handed out when needed for those who are hungry." She tapped sharply on the whiteboard. "Your name was put there by the stationer three nights ago. Professor Snape always buys extra meals. Everyone on Camden Alley does."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. His mind was spinning. People bought extra meals when they ordered takeaway, so the food could be given to homeless people? His eyes flickered back up to the board. But Harry wasn't homeless exactly, just hungry. The stationer must have seen Harry come in the other night since his shop and flat above it were right next to the tunnel entrance to Camden Alley. He must have watched and seen that Snape wasn't here with Harry, and put Harry's name on the list. He didn't even know these people and they were taking care of him... making sure he didn't go hungry.

The woman made an unhappy noise, and Harry looked up and realized she was looking at him. She handed him a napkin across the counter and said, "Dry your eyes."

He took the napkin and swiped at his eyes with his sleeve and then the napkin and stuffed it into his hoodie pocket. "Thank you," he said, trying to make the words come out steady and unbroken. "For feeding me."

"When you have money, you'll buy extra meals."

"Yeah," Harry promised. "I will." He didn't know when he'd have any money. It could be years. But he counted back to how many meals had already been delivered to him and promised to keep count of how many he ate in the future. He'd make sure to replenish all that he'd eaten as soon as he could, even if he couldn't do that until he was an adult.

There was a shuffling noise behind the counter, and Harry looked up. She was handing him a bag with a box in it. She pointed to the board and said, "Take this to the man here. Go out the tunnel entrance and to the left. He's down two doors in front of the newsagent."

"Yes maam," Harry said.

"Psh." She gave him a hard look again and said, "None of that. It's auntie."

Harry raised his brows at that. She seemed to be waiting for him to comply though, so he said, "Yes... auntie."

That finally got a small smile out of her, so he took the box and left, heading toward the tunnel entrance and exiting with the food out into Muggle London. He'd never been allowed out of the alley by himself before aside from when Mrs. Clarke had dropped him off, but he turned left and went down two doors to the newsagent and found a man sitting on the ground with his head down.

"Erm, this is for you," Harry said.

The man looked up, and reached up and took the bag with the takeaway box. "Thank you lad," he said.

"You're welcome sir."

The man laughed and motioned to himself. His clothes were dirty and his beard long and scraggly. "No one calls me sir."

"Well I will," Harry said. The man didn't know what to say to that, so he started opening his box of food, and Harry left him there to return back to Camden Alley and Snape's flat. He hadn't prepared the food... hadn't pre-paid for it, but his chest felt full of happiness that he'd been able to deliver it.

As he made it back to Snape's flat a few minutes later and opened the fridge to pull out his own evening meal, Harry thought about delivering food to the man on the Muggle street. He was used to being the one in need. He was used to his friends sharing their supplies, to Ron's mum giving him used clothes, and now to the Chinese restaurant giving him meals. This had been the first time in a long time he had been able to give to someone else however. For just a few moments it made Harry feel like he was worth something to someone, even if it only meant he was valuable to that homeless man for a moment in that he had delivered his dinner. Instead of being helpless, for a few minutes he'd been helpful. It only made Harry double down on his promise to himself to pay the restaurant back for every meal they'd fed him. He'd have to find a way to pay back the kindness of the stationer too, who had put his name on the list in the restaurant.

* * *

The brat had no respect! Severus seethed as he pulled his cloak around himself to ward off the cold wind that had been blowing all morning. Potter's friends had tried to send him Christmas gifts by owl, but the owls had been unable to deliver them, and worried, they had contacted Hogwarts. At first Severus had assumed the boy had put up some sort of ward despite that he wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school, or had some sort of talisman on him that kept his whereabouts unknown, and had gone to Privet Drive to tell him off. The brat wasn't there however and neither were his relatives. As the boy had said, they must have been on vacation.

Still assuming the child had a ward up around himself, Severus had done a locator spell on his aunt and then traveled to Witheridge, where he was informed by the boy's irate uncle and his nasty sister that the boy had never shown up for the holidays. Vernon Dursley proceeded to chastise Severus (the nerve) for ten minutes about sending word that he'd be coming home and then not returning the boy as promised.

The brat was going to pay. He clearly couldn't be trusted. Severus should have ensured he made it into his relatives home instead of leaving him on the doorstep and apparating away. As he strode away from the home in the country in Witheridge, Severus narrowed his eyes. Where would the boy have run off to? He clearly wasn't at Hogwarts. Severus would have known if he were. If he were, the boy would have made his presence known and protested the moment Umbridge and Filch demanded his project be moved out from under the Pitch. Pomona and Dobby had spent two hours carefully packing the mushroom project away and moving it into greenhouse five to appease Umbridge and save the project from certain destruction. Umbridge had then gone down to the Pitch to ward the underside of the stands to keep students out. If Potter was at the school, he would have thrown a fit.

Severus didn't know where Granger lived, but he remembered hearing she was going to be traveling with her parents for the holidays. The only place that remained then to check was the Burrow.

Tired from apparating several times that day over long distances, Severus would have rather gone back to the castle, but he couldn't simply abandon his search for the Gryffindor now that he was his ward. One quiet year, that's all he wanted. One year where the boy didn't throw himself into danger at every turn. Mountain trolls, death defying Quidditch stunts, Basilisks, dragons, and absconding from the safety of his relatives home... the list never ended.

Potter wasn't with the Weasleys, and they were concerned that Severus didn't know where he was either. He'd accosted Ron for five minutes before the redhead had angrily shouted back at him that he wasn't the one that was supposed to know where Harry was.

Fatigued from jumping from place to place, chilled from being out in the cold all day, and a headache beginning to form, Severus decided to return to his flat for the evening as that was closer than apparating all the way back to Hogwarts. He doubted he'd be able to safely apparate for days after this and would have to take the train back to the school and then explain himself to the Headmaster. He was only supposed to be out for one day, not two. He really should get the fireplace in his flat connected to the floo. Then he could floo in to Hogsmeade and walk back to the castle from there instead of spending all of his energy on long distance apparations.

Taking a breath to steady himself for his final apparation that day, Severus closed his eyes and disappeared from the snowy yard outside the Burrow with a pop, reappearing in his flat. He muttered unfriendly things about disrespect to himself for several seconds before he became aware that the lights were on and that he wasn't alone.

Out of his periphery he saw the dark shape of a person standing a foot away and just as the person tried to bolt he reached out a hand and grabbed whoever it was by the front of the shirt and pulled them close.

Severus' eyes must be deceiving him, because it wasn't a burglar or a death eater come to bring him to Voldemort, but the missing brat-who-lived. "Potter!"

The fifteen year old threw his hands up in front of his face and whimpered, and Severus let go of the front of his shirt, feeling scalded. That was the second time the boy had acted as though his Potions master was going to strike him. The boy was muttering something, arms still in front of his face and cowering. Severus leaned forward ever so slightly to hear what he was saying.

"Please don't, don't, please don't," Harry was whimpering. He was breathing hard, hands over his head, shaking.

"Potter, what is it you think I am going to do?" he asked, warily. He was too tired for this. He wanted to collapse on the couch or in his bed and sleep. His core wasn't depleted but he'd used enough energy apparating around the country that day that it might as well have been.

Breathing heavily Harry took a step back and let his arms fall slowly, revealing a mottled black eye. A rock fell into the pit of Severus' stomach. This was the second time the boy had come from his relatives with a black eye. He'd also come from them with a broken arm. The boy's uncle had claimed he'd never made it to them days ago. Now Severus wasn't so sure.

"Slow your breathing," Severus said. "You're going to hyperventilate."

Harry didn't look like he was trying to comply, but Severus wasn't sure he would be able to tell even if he was.

Deciding to give the boy some space for a few moments to regulate his emotions, he let his eyes travel around the flat. It was as he left it aside from Potter's unexpected presence. It was clean and tidy, and there were no dirty dishes in the sink. How long had Potter been here? Had he walked from Little Whinging? He'd dropped the child off five days before. How long had it taken him to get to Camden?

When his eyes came back to the boy, his breathing had calmed a little more, and Severus found himself being watched by scared green eyes.

"Sit."

Harry sat on the edge of the couch, looking tense, and Severus sat in the armchair.

"What happened to your eye?"

Harry looked away and shrugged.

"Why are you not with your relatives?"

Another shrug.

"How did you get here?"

Harry relaxed a little at this question and said, "My friend the librarian drove me."

He raised his brows. How many librarians was he friends with? Irma spoke highly of the child, though as far as Severus knew he hadn't been spending time in the Hogwarts library recently as he'd been trying to stay out of Umbridge's sight.

"Why here Potter?"

He didn't answer for long moments. Finally he said, "It's warm."

That was true enough Severus supposed, but not the answer he was looking for. If he'd had a ride he was surprised Potter hadn't gone all the way to stay with the Weasleys.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself for however long it was going to take to get the answers he wanted from the boy so he could go to bed, and said, "I dropped you off on the doorstep to your relatives house five days ago Potter-"

"Please-" Harry interrupted him. His eyes came up from the floor to meet Severus', and he was startled to find fear and sadness in them. "Please don't make me go back there again."

Severus looked into his eyes for long moments, arguing with himself to not look into the boy's thoughts as that was not only rude but a breach in trust to do so without permission. Instead he settled on asking again, "What happened to your eye?"

The child looked down and seemed to shrink into himself. Severus felt chilled.

"Which one of them hit you?"

Harry swallowed. "Uncle Vernon."

"And the black eye earlier this summer?"

Harry gave a little nod but that was all.

"The broken arm?" Severus asked. Harry nodded again.

He found himself balling and unballing his fists so hard that his joints began to hurt. "Does your aunt know?"

"She tells me to stay out of his way."

"She allows this to happen," Severus corrected with a snap, and Harry closed his eyes and stilled. Severus huffed and tried to calm his tone again. "Where else are you hurt?"

Harry's lip trembled then as he stared straight ahead towards the windows looking out over the dark alley, though Severus doubted he was seeing what was in front of him. The fringe of his bangs was down in his face and Severus gave him the time he needed to answer. "My ribs and shoulder."

"Are they broken?" Severus asked.

Harry nodded. Severus took a deep breath and held it. Why hadn't the child told him? Why hadn't he said something? He could have kept him from going back all of those times in the summer! But Severus knew why he hadn't told. It was the same reason Severus had hid his bruises when he was a child. To think that it was happening to Lily's son... to his apprentice!

Then Severus grew wary. The boy needed a healer and there was no way he could apparate him to St. Mungos or back to Hogwarts. He could potentially apparate himself one more time, but apparating another person with him would be more energy than he could spare.

"You need a healer and I cannot apparate you to St. Mungos tonight. Stay here. I will return with a healer in a few minutes." He rose and went to the door, but before he left he turned and said, "I meant what I said Potter. Stay put."

The boy nodded but didn't turn around. Severus left him there and closed the door. The neighbors downstairs had a rather large fireplace connected to the floo. It wasn't so late at night that it would be rude to knock on their door and ask if he could contact St. Mungos.

While Snape was away, Harry clenched his eyes closed. This was bad. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted. Someone must have told Snape that he was here. The stationer maybe, or the woman from the restaurant... they knew he was here, but really, he'd had the lights on in the flat for five days and anyone could have figured out that it wasn't Snape and contacted him since they all knew he was away at Hogwarts during the year.

The man was clearly upset, and Harry didn't want to know what his punishment would be. He didn't even know what he had left to take away. His father's cloak maybe, or his photo album. Harry had already lost his freedom, his dorm, Quidditch, both libraries... his heart sank. Snape could ban Harry from seeing his friends. That would be possible now that he wasn't living in Gryffindor tower.

Snape was only gone a few minutes and returned with someone else. Harry didn't look up until the second man introduced himself as a healer.

"Hey there lad, I hear you've got some broken bones that need mending. Nothing too serious I hope. I doubt we'll need skelegrow tonight. My name's Healer Barnes. Can I have a look at you?"

Harry nodded.

"Let's get your sweatshirt and shirt off so I can see what's going on with your ribs and shoulder. Your master said you thought they were both broken."

Harry struggled to get his hoodie off as it didn't have a zipper, but the healer helped him to pull it gently off over his head, and then did the same with his shirt. Harry shivered at the cold air in the room and heard Snape say a heating spell from somewhere behind him.

The healer let out a heavy breath. "That's some bruise. It's covering a large portion of your chest. This one on your shoulder is big too. Not too much swelling though. When did you get hurt?"

"Four or five days," Harry said.

"Have you taken anything for it?"

Harry shook his head and the healer began to run diagnostic spells.

"Two broken ribs and a broken collarbone. The breaks aren't too bad. I can wrap your ribs and wrap your arm to hold it to your side tonight. A few doses of a bone knitting potion will have you mended in no time. I'm going to have to give you a strong bruise balm for the bruising though. These bruises won't heal quickly."

He slathered Harry's chest, shoulder, and back in bruise balm and then took out a long roll of thin bandages and wrapped Harry's ribs and then pulled Harry's left arm to his side and wrapped it to his chest to hold it in place. "Just for tonight. The bone knitting potion will work best if the broken bones are kept still. These bandages can come off first thing in the morning, and then you'll need to take two more doses of the bone knitting potion tomorrow." He measured out a large dose of the red bone knitting potion and made Harry drink it. It tasted like cherry cough syrup and burned all the way down Harry's throat.

He helped Harry get his shirt back on, though his left arm would have to stay trapped under it for the night, and then began to work bruise balm into the skin around Harry's black eye.

"Can you tell me what happened to cause these injuries?" the healer asked. "I have to put it in the report. It'll go in your medical record, but no one else will see it."

When Harry didn't answer the healer asked quietly, "Would you rather master Snape leave the room?"

"No," Harry said, "I already told him."

"Can you tell me?" the healer asked with a lot more patience than Snape had had with him that evening.

Harry used his free hand to fidget with the hem of his shirt. "My uncle went after me."

"What did he do?"

Harry shrugged. When the healer seemed ready to wait him out however, Harry said, "He just- pushed me around. He hit me. Yelled at me a bunch." He shrugged again.

"And has this happened before?"

"I guess."

"Thank you for telling me Harry."

The healer was still sitting on Snape's coffee table facing him. He looked past Harry to where Snape had been standing behind him the whole time and said, "He's not going back there is he?"

Severus shook his head. "He will not be. I went to check on him and found him missing. When I returned here I found him in this state and he told me what has been happening when he returns to his relatives. As I already have custody of him, the choice is mine."

The healer nodded. "Good. These things can get messy going through two court systems. You said they were Muggle didn't you?"

"Yes," Severus practically growled.

The healer left the potions and extra strength bruise balm with Severus along with instructions. Before he left he looked him up and down and said, "Are you going to tell me what's going on with you?"

"Excuse me?" Severus asked, arms wrapped around himself as he gripped his shoulders, pensive about Potter's injuries.

"You look like you're ready to fall over. Are you going to tell me or should I scan your core?"

"I may have made one too many long distance apparations today."

Harry turned from his spot on the couch to look at both men just as the healer began to nod. "Ah, thus your need for the use of your neighbor's floo." He used his wand to scan Snape without his permission, but the man didn't glare at the healer any more than he already was.

"Sixty percent. Bet you're feeling that, and you will be for a few days. You could do with a strong core replenishing potion."

"I will buy one at the apothecary in the morning."

"See that you do. If I get a firecall from Harry in the morning because he can't wake you up, I'm going to have some stern words for you. And see that you don't overextend your core like this in the future."

"I had little choice. I was trying to find my apprentice."

The healer looked back at Harry and then put a hand on Snape's shoulder, which he tolerated. "I'm glad you did. Just don't do this again." He bade them both good night and merry Christmas, despite that Christmas wasn't for several days yet, and then left, closing the door on his way out.

Harry was watching Severus and it caused him to sneer. "Do not give me that look. I do not require tending to. I will be fine after a good night's rest and a potion which you can fetch in the morning."

Harry turned back around and ran his hand across his face and then through his already messy hair.

"When was the last time you ate?" Severus asked from behind him.

"There's food in the fridge."

"You purchased food?"

Harry stilled and Severus sighed. "However you obtained it, short of theft, you are not in trouble Potter."

He turned from his spot on the couch and stood up, looking anxious. "The woman at the Chinese place brought it to me. After I was here for a couple days she started bringing food. She said I could pay her back."

Severus opened the door to the fridge and found half a box of takeaway. "Did you eat dinner?"

"I had half of that. I was saving the other half for morning."

"May I have it?"

Harry found it such an odd question. It was Snape's flat, he could have whatever food he wanted. "Erm- yeah, go ahead."

"I will send you with money for breakfast in the morning."

Harry wondered how long it had been since Snape had eaten as he watched him devour the rest of the food in the takeaway container. Maybe he needed it to help replenish his core. Just how many times had the man apparated that day and where all had he gone?

"What am I losing?" Harry asked after several long minutes. His throat was tight.

"Excuse me?"

"What am I losing? For making you come after me like this," Harry clarified.

Severus stared at him from the other side of the counter for long moments. Instead of answering his question he asked, "Why did you come here Potter?"

Hadn't he already given him an answer? What had he told him? That it was warm? Wasn't that a good enough reason? "It's the only place I had to go."

Snape didn't seem to know what to say to that so he didn't respond for several moments. The next thing he said was, "Explain to me how you got here."

"I left early in the morning, while it was still dark. I went to the library and waited for it to open and Mrs. Clarke said she'd bring me here after the library closed. Then she drove me."

"Mrs. Clarke is a Muggle?"

Harry looked down at the ground and didn't answer.

"You are not in trouble for doing what you needed to do to get to a safe place Potter."

"She's a Muggle."

"How did you explain where you were going to her?"

"She thinks my great uncle came to take me to live with him. He works with pharmaceuticals and is away for work a lot. I said he dropped me with my aunt and uncle for the holidays because he had a business trip. When I told her you'd be back in a few days she said she'd bring me here."

"You're a terrible liar," Severus said. The only problem was that the child wasn't a terrible liar. It had been a clever story rooted in truth... just enough to be twisted to fit what a Muggle needed to hear. Potter had clearly hidden the truth about his relatives from everyone as well. Well... he'd tried to tell Severus he shouldn't go home for Christmas. When he told the truth, Severus hadn't been willing to hear it.

"I am sorry I forced you to return home when you tried to tell me you did not want to."

"S'ok," Harry mumbled. "I always stay at the castle for Christmas." The boy had told him that too. Severus wished now that he had heard it.

He sent Harry to bed and told him to get some sleep as the bone knitting potion would do its best work when Harry was resting. When he was certain the child had gone to bed Severus collapsed onto his own bed and stared at the dark ceiling of his flat. The world had been turned on its head in a matter of moments for him. Everything he'd been seeing these last months... all of Potter's odd behaviors... the way his uncle had set up this apprenticeship... it all aligned into an ugly truth he'd never stopped to consider.

He rubbed hard at the spot between his eyes. Potter hadn't trusted him enough to tell him the truth of his situation at home... of the abuse he endured at the hands of his relatives. Severus couldn't say he blamed the boy. Despite that their relationship had changed to that of apprentice and master, Severus didn't have the best relationship with the child. He did what he could to keep him at arms length, and before that summer he and the boy had never gotten along. Perhaps Harry saw him like he saw his uncle. That thought disturbed him. It disturbed him how Harry assumed he was going to be struck. Did he assume that of everybody, or only of Severus? Yet, despite the child's misapprehension about Severus, he'd come to this place when in need. He thought of Severus' flat as somewhere safe when he had nowhere else to go.

Severus had known Potter didn't want this apprenticeship... that his uncle had set it up for him. Knowing now that the boy had been abused by his relatives changed things. This wasn't his uncle wanting to set him up for a future, it was another act of abuse... one Harry was having to live with daily despite being away from his relatives and at school. Severus shouldn't keep the boy on as an apprentice under these circumstances. It was wrong to do so. By keeping him as an apprentice he would be contributing to that abuse perpetrated by Vernon Dursley. There was only one problem with dissolving the apprenticeship however: if he filed those papers with the Ministry he'd no longer be the boy's guardian, and Harry would have to return to his relatives. The healer was right in his assessment of that nest of basilisks: it could be messy to remove a wizard child from the custody of their Muggle guardians. It would have to go through the Ministry of Magic and the Muggle courts, and through it all Harry would be with his relatives, who could demand that he go to Muggle school instead of Hogwarts.

Finally too exhausted to think about it anymore, Severus fell into a fitful sleep. There was nothing more he could do until after he talked to Harry in the morning.

"Are you well enough to go to the apothecary to buy a core replenishing potion?" Snape asked. Harry nodded.

Instead of making Harry ask for help, Snape rummaged through one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out a pair of scissors. He helped Harry remove his t-shirt and then cut the bandages away that were holding his arm to his side. Now that his arm was free Harry was able to retreat into his bedroom to pull the rest of the bandages off of his ribs and put on a clean t-shirt and his hoodie again.

Back in the living room Snape had money waiting for him so he could go to the apothecary.

"Buy a class six core replenishing potion. They should be against the wall by the front window. It will be a clear dark blue and will be labeled. If he does not have a class six available, purchase a class five."

"Yes sir."

Harry took the money and left the flat. Snape had bags under his eyes and looked like he hadn't slept at all. Maybe it was just from his core being drained. Harry had never suffered from a drained core, but it didn't look pleasant, and they'd been warned in first year about performing magic that was too advanced for them and potentially dying or losing their magic altogether if they drained their core completely.

After being stuck in the flat for five days, not counting his one late evening journey to the Chinese restaurant, Harry was glad to be out in the fresh morning air. There weren't too many people out yet because it was still early, and it was nice to be in an open space.

Harry pushed open the door to the apothecary and the man looked up from where he was writing something down next to the till. He gave Harry a smile and said, "I was wondering if I'd be seeing you. What can I do for you today Mr. Potter?"

"I need a class six core replenishing potion," he said.

The man raised his brows and pointed to the wall where there were shelves of potions, and potions lined up on top of an apothecary cabinet that held dried ingredients people could measure out themselves.

"I have one in stock. It'll run you two galleons."

"I have the money ready," Harry said. Snape had sent him with just a bit more than two galleons worth. Harry went to the wall and began looking for the core replenishing potions. There were six of them and they were each different colors. There were numerous class one potions, a few class two's, and two class threes, but only a single class four, class five and class six. The prices of these went up by nearly twenty sickles each time the class of core replenishing potion rose as well.

Harry had just picked up the dark blue potion he needed when the little bell above the door announced another customer. He turned and froze, potion in hand. Oh no. Not now. I can't be here if he's here. What do I do? Look down. Look down! It took several moments of screaming at himself in his own mind to get his body to move, and he looked down and let his bangs fall into his face just as Amos Diggory turned from the counter from where he'd stopped to say hello to the apothecary. He didn't seem to notice Harry or to care at first and turned back to the apothecary behind the counter to ask him about several potions he needed for work.

"Do you have them in stock?" Mr. Diggory asked. "I visited three apothecaries yesterday and no one had them."

"Should have at least one of them," the apothecary told him. "And if I don't have the others I can make them up in a day if you can wait. Let me go into the back and check."

Harry assumed the apothecary had disappeared into the back, leaving him alone with Cedric's father. He was shaking, every word the Hufflepuffs had thrown at him that term racing through his mind.

"What have you come in today for lad?" Mr. Diggory asked.

No. Leave me alone. Just go about your business. I'm not here at all. There was nothing for it because he'd seen Harry's hands shaking as he held on to the glass phial with the blue potion with a death grip.

"You all right there?"

Harry's eyes teared up. Murderer. Cedric's parents will be missing him this time of year. How does it feel to kill someone Potter?

"Mr. Potter, you ok?" the apothecary asked as he came back out with whatever it was that Mr. Diggory had come in for.

"Potter?" Mr. Diggory's voice was so quiet Harry wasn't sure if he had heard it at all. There were footsteps and someone was in front of him. Harry flinched, and after a few moments Mr. Diggory's hand came into view and gently lifted his chin up so Harry had no choice but to lift his face and show the man his wet eyes. At least the tears hadn't fallen yet and trailed down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered. Mr. Diggory looked as though he was ready to cry as well. "I didn't mean to kill him. I'm sorry."

He let go of Harry's chin and said, "You didn't kill him."

Harry shook his head vehemently. "I murdered him."

"Who told you that?" Harry had never seen Amos Diggory angry until now and it was a bit frightening to see his face morph from concern to anger so quickly.

Harry looked back down, letting his hair fall forward into his face again. "Everybody says it."

"Who specifically?"

He shrugged. He didn't want to talk to him about it, but he couldn't refuse to answer any of his questions either. Harry was responsible for killing the man's son. He owed him whatever answers he wanted. "Some of Cedric's friends. Most of the Hufflepuffs."

Cedric's father took in a deep breath to steady himself and then startled Harry as he reached out both hands and put them on Harry's shoulders. Harry looked up, surprised. "You are not a murderer. There was nothing you could have done. Nothing, do you understand me? Cedric was older than you... he knew more magic, and he couldn't stop him either. You were both victims..." he trailed away, eyes rising to look at Harry's scar like people so often did. "You more than once," he said. Harry was still shaking, and was surprised when the man pulled him into a hug. He didn't know what he was talking about. The Hufflepuffs and everybody else knew this was Harry's fault.

"It should have been me. Then you'd still have Cedric."

"I wish I still had Cedric," Amos said then, and his voice sounded choked. "I would never wish to trade another child for him though. You deserve to be alive as much as he did. His mother and I have never blamed you for his death. Not once." He let go of Harry then and Harry's throat was too tight to speak as he used his sleeve to wipe his eyes. He was aware the apothecary he'd done business with so frequently that summer was still there watching and listening.

"How long has this been going on?" Amos asked. "With the Hufflepuffs?"

Harry cleared his throat so he could attempt to speak. "All year," he said.

"I happen to know Cedric counted you as a friend," Amos said. "He wrote home about you and told us how you didn't want to be in the tournament but were being forced to participate."

Harry nodded his head slowly.

"Don't listen to them anymore." Amos looked like he had more to say, but turned instead to the counter to pay for the potions he had come for. On his way out of the shop he paused to look at Harry again, but Harry couldn't bring himself to meet his eyes, and the man left. Finally alone in the shop again with the apothecary, Harry stepped up to the counter with his potion and handed over his coins.

"Is that for Severus?" the man asked. Harry nodded.

"Is he all right?"

"Yes sir."

"If he needs something else, come back and I'll have it for him."

"Yes sir. Thank you." Harry left, feeling bad about having caused a scene in the man's shop. He had hoped never to encounter Cedric's parents again, though the encounter had certainly gone differently than what he would have imagined.

He stopped on the landing outside of Snape's flat and tried to pull himself together some. His emotions were still raw from the night before, and now after the encounter with Cedric's father they were ready to spill over and overwhelm him. He pushed open the door and went in with the potion. It appeared that while he was out Snape had ordered in breakfast as there were boxes of takeout on the counter filled with eggs and other delicious food.

"How much was it?" Snape asked warily as Harry set the potion on the counter. Harry was aware the man was looking at his face and probably his red eyes.

"Two Galleons."

"Better than I expected. You were gone for some time. Was he teaching you about core replenishing potions?"

"There was another customer," Harry said, sitting down to eat his breakfast. He just wanted to be left alone for a while to collect himself.

Snape drank down his potion and ate his own breakfast and seemed to feel better for it after a few minutes. He didn't look as exhausted as he had earlier that morning.

"I will not be able to apparate us back to Hogwarts. I will arrange for us to use the Floo somewhere so we do not have to take the train."

Harry nodded and went to his room.

At lunch time Snape called him out because he'd ordered food again, and as Harry sat down to eat Snape said, "We will be leaving after lunch to return to the school. We have some things to discuss before we depart however."

Harry didn't want to discuss anything with him. He was too worn out, but resigned himself to the fact that he didn't have a choice if he wanted to get back to Hogwarts that day. He didn't know what Snape wanted to talk about, but was surprised when he said, "You were forced into this apprenticeship by your uncle, not because he wanted to set you up for a better academic future as he told me, but for some other reason."

Harry looked up from his food at him and their eyes met. That was exactly what had happened. "He wanted to get rid of me. He didn't want me hanging around after I graduated Hogwarts. He thought it would make it so he wouldn't have to deal with me during the summer or over holidays."

"Knowing that makes this an apprenticeship that is both illegal and immoral. There must be a valid reason that will benefit the apprentice if the apprentice is under age and entering into the apprenticeship against their will. Now I know there is no reason and the apprenticeship should be dissolved."

Harry couldn't take his eyes off of him now. Snape was going to let him off the hook? That would look terrible for the man... Soren had told him that apprenticeships were rarely ever dissolved.

Snape kept talking when Harry didn't respond. "Dissolving the apprenticeship leads to one problem however. I currently have custody of you, meaning I can ensure you do not return to your relatives. If the apprenticeship is dissolved, that will no longer be the case."

Harry huffed and went back to his food. That was how things usually worked out for him.

"If you were to be willing to stay in this apprenticeship, it would no longer be an illegal apprenticeship as you would not be involved against your will. If you stayed and we did not dissolve the apprenticeship, I would do what I could to help you and keep you safe."

Harry frowned. Hadn't the man already been keeping him safe? Hadn't he already helped him out in several ways? "What does that mean?"

"Whether you choose to stay my apprentice or not, I will do what I can to ensure you do not return to your relatives. If you stay my apprentice that gives me full guardianship over you until you are seventeen or no longer my apprentice. In that instance I will do what is necessary to ensure you remain safe and healthy, and to meet your needs. However, in order to do that, you must tell me what those needs are. I cannot help you if I do not know what you need. Hiding injuries, hiding the truth about difficulties you are experiencing... these things will only harm you."

A lump rose in Harry's throat. He'd never been made an offer like that before. Snape had already been doing his best to make sure he was fed and clothed, so he knew the man would keep his word in that regard. There was something Harry needed that he didn't think he'd ever get though. It was something Snape couldn't give him... wouldn't give him. He knew his eyes were tearing up but he didn't have the energy to stop it, not after what had happened in the apothecary's shop that morning.

"What is it?" Severus asked.

Harry shook his head hard.

"If you tell me, perhaps I can help."

"You can't."

"Tell me anyway."

Harry wiped his sleeve across his eyes. He stood up and went into his room and shut the door. He couldn't tell Snape because the man would scoff at him. Aunt Petunia came to mind... not his aunt Petunia, the make-believe one he sometimes conjured in his mind's eye... the aunt he wished for... the aunt that hugged him and wiped away his tears and didn't look at him with cold eyes. What Harry needed was a family. He needed to feel loved, and felt like it just wasn't in the cards for him. He was glad that Cedric had known what it was to feel loved when he was alive. Harry knew Cedric's father had loved him, because earlier he'd seen the tears in the man's eyes as he'd left the apothecary.

Harry needed that like he needed air to breathe, and when he thought about it too hard or for too long, it felt like all the air had left his lungs. In those moments it was hard for Harry to get his breath back. How could he get Snape to understand what Harry had only just come to grasp himself?

He packed the clothes he had with him back into his bag along with his apprentice books and went back into the living room a few minutes later. He had to give Snape an answer and there was really only one answer to give him if he wanted to stay at Hogwarts over school holidays.

"I'll stay your apprentice."

Severus gave a slow nod. He had to ensure the boy wasn't doing this against his will or else the Ministry would come after him and dissolve the apprenticeship and potentially revoke his potions mastery. "Are you staying my apprentice because you feel as though you have to, or because it is what you want?" A lot depended on the fifth year's answer.

"You said there has to be some benefit to me, if I'm to be in the apprenticeship against my will."

"Yes."

"The benefit is that I'm not returning to my relatives. I get fed three meals a day and don't get locked out of the house in the snow. I have clothes that fit me for the first time since I can remember, and I have all the school supplies I need so I don't have to borrow from my friends. It doesn't matter if I want it or not." Harry needed it, and was realizing for the first time that this apprenticeship was a lifeline that had been thrown to him to help him survive this turbulent year and his remaining years until he turned 17. His emotions were too churned up to admit to himself just now that he wanted to continue on with the apprenticeship as they had been... to keep learning about mushrooms and foraging for plants in the woods where it was quiet and calm... to keep meeting with Soren and Master Edric and going to gatherings with others in the potions community. It was something he wouldn't be able to admit to himself for a long time.

They walked slowly up through the snow and cold and Harry wished he'd brought a coat when he'd left the castle to go back to Little Whinging. He pulled his hood up over his head and winced at the tenderness in his ribs as he hugged himself for warmth. He still had one more dose of the bone knitting potion to take that evening before he was fully healed.

"Where is your coat?" Severus asked.

"In my quarters."

"See that you do not leave the castle without it again when it is cold outside."

"Yes sir."

They were quiet for a few moments before Severus decided to tell the boy about his project so he didn't go out to the Pitch expecting to find it there.

"There is something you must know."

He sounded grave and Harry looked over at him. "Ok."

"Professor Umbridge made a new rule that no students will be allowed in areas not normally accessible to students or not easily supervisable by staff. Professor Sprout and Dobby packed up your project under the Pitch and moved it to greenhouse five. She placed wards around the underside of the Pitch to keep students out."

Harry shook his head and felt like this day couldn't possibly get any worse than it already was. This entire week had been horrible.

"As I understand it, great care was taken in moving your project. You, Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger have all been granted access to greenhouse five during daytime hours. You are not to be out there after dark unless you have permission from myself or Professor Sprout."

"Ron and Hermione are allowed too?"

"Minerva was quite insistent that since they had helped set up the lab under the Pitch that it was their project as well. As they are both Prefects and Mr. Longbottom has previous history of being granted special access to the greenhouses, the case was made that all of you should be allowed access."

"Did Professor Umbridge throw a fit?" Harry asked.

Severus snorted, surprising him and said, "You did not hear it from me. Greenhouse five has generally been preserved for staff and their herbology projects. I myself have several things growing in there."

"Does Professor Umbridge?"

"Not that I know of. Poppy and Pomona do however."

"Does that mean Professor Umbridge can't go in there?" Harry asked.

"She has access to the entirety of the school grounds aside from personal quarters of other staff and student apprentices. She should also not be in any of the houses unless with a head of house."

That explained why she had brought McGonagall with her when she'd gone to Harry's dorm to search it the last time.

They stopped for a brief break twice on their way to the castle so Snape could rest, and Harry gave him worried looks each time.

"I am fine."

"When's that core replenishing potion supposed to kick in?"

"It already has."

At Harry's skeptical look Severus said, "Read the last chapter of your apprentice book on rare potions and their uses. The potion will take time to fully restore my core. My core would restore on its own but it would take up to two weeks. The potion will have it fully restored in days."

Harry gave a nod, trusting that he knew what he was talking about. He would look up that chapter in his book later when he had time. For now he couldn't wait to get back up to the castle to find Seamus. He was sad Hermione wasn't going to be there, but glad he wouldn't be completely alone for Christmas which was in just two days. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve.

Before they got all the way to the front steps of the castle, Severus said, "Umbridge is up to something more than just trying to get you into trouble. We do not know what yet, but believe it revolves around you. There is something else. She has made a new rule and the Minister of Magic himself has signed off on it."

Harry stared at him as they walked, fully alert. Here it came. There was something that would make his day worse.

"All detentions are to be overseen by her. This means she may assign detentions to other teachers, or she may handle them herself. Be careful."

"There's a rumor she's hurting students," Harry said seriously.

"Yes. We do not know how. One boy was injured but refused to say what happened."

"Are you sure we can't go somewhere for the rest of the holiday?" Harry asked, hopeful the man knew of some sort of gathering or would be willing to just return to Camden Alley.

"I am required to be here for the holiday as Professor Flitwick and several other staff have left until January 1st. I was only given leave for one day and have already been gone for two."

Harry let out a slow breath. Maybe he'd ask Seamus to just spend the rest of the break in his quarters except for when he had to sleep. If Harry stayed shut away then Umbridge couldn't find anything to give him detention for.

Finally in the Entrance Hall, they shook the snow off their boots and parted ways. Harry headed up to the common room to find Seamus before even going back to his quarters.

"Harry!" Seamus said with surprise when he saw him come into the common room. Aside from Seamus the room was empty because nearly all the other Gryffindors had gone home for Christmas. Harry thought a few younger kids had stayed, but wasn't sure where they were if they had. "I thought you'd gone for the holidays."

He flopped down on the couch by the fire and said, "Master Snape brought me back."

"Don't think I'll ever get used to hearing you call him that," Seamus said, eyeing Harry's still healing black eye.

"It's not so bad," Harry told him, but didn't elaborate. "I think I'm gonna spend most of my time in my quarters. Do you wanna play board games or something?"

"Sure," he said. "Don't you have Prefect duties though?"

"That's right," Harry said, having forgotten.

"The Head Girl's still here. I sat next to her this morning at breakfast."

Harry nodded. If there weren't many students staying for the holidays, the staff had them all sit together at one table in the Great Hall. "I guess I'll see her at dinner then," he said.

Seamus went up to the boys dormitory and got several board games the boys shared and then the two of them left and went down the corridor to Harry's quarters. Harry got a fire going in the grate to warm the room up and they pushed the coffee table out of the way so they could sit on the floor in front of the fire and play games.

They went to dinner together at five and Harry told Aoife he was available to patrol.

"Patrols are different over holidays," she said. "Right now it's only you, me and William." She pointed down the table to a sixth year Hufflepuff Prefect. "We all patrol together, but only for one hour before curfew."

"Together?" Harry asked.

"Sure. Patrolling is a great time to talk. I'm sure you found that out patrolling with Hermione."

"Yeah, it's just-" Harry gave another look down the table to where William had just laughed out loud at something a younger Hufflepuff had said.

"He won't bother you," she told him. "Prefects have to stick together."

Harry wasn't sure he believed her though.

"You'll see," she told him. "We'll pick you up at eight. You have your own quarters now right?"

Harry nodded and told her where they were.

After dinner Harry and Seamus played board games for another hour before Seamus decided to return to the common room for the evening. Harry was going to read for an hour until it was time to patrol, but there was a knock on his door and it turned out to be Snape.

Snape came in and closed the door, and Harry wasn't sure if he should feel awkward there with the man in his quarters or not. Snape's eyes swept around the room, from the bookshelves to the small tree that was decorated with Gryffindor ornaments, and then he pulled out a phial of the red bone knitting potion Harry needed to take. Harry had almost forgotten about the final dose.

"Do not make plans for tomorrow evening," Severus said, handing the potion to him.

"Are we brewing sir?"

"In a manner of speaking. Be ready by eight tomorrow evening. Wear a sweater and your coat and bring your mittens, scarf and cap."

Harry wanted to ask more questions but the man indicated he should take his potion, gave one last look around the room, and then bade him good evening.

At eight Aoife and William knocked on his door and they began their patrol in the upper castle. They were quiet at first and Harry felt awkward, but it was only a few minutes before William asked, "Do you like it?" Harry stiffened, sure he would ask if Harry liked being a murderer. Instead he finished with, "Being a potions apprentice?"

Aoife gave Harry an encouraging look and he nodded. "Yeah. I get to do all sorts of interesting things."

"I like potions," William said. "I've been thinking about an apprenticeship after seventh year, but I was also considering healing."

"You can do both," Harry said, still not certain if this conversation was going to end in name calling or not. "You can do an apprenticeship for both. The two fields are closely related."

"I read that," William said. "I want to do things though... not just brew potions."

"I don't do too much brewing yet. We spend a lot of time out collecting ingredients, selling ingredients to apothecaries... you know, stuff like that. It's always something new. I do brew potions sometimes... actually, I have to brew harder potions in class than everyone else. There's a lot of swapping out ingredients and experimentation to get ratios right."

Harry wasn't sure if they'd want to hear about how he'd spent his Halloween, but neither seemed bored with the topic yet so he told them about his night in the haunted house.

"Are you telling the truth?" William asked.

"Yeah. It was a lot of fun once I got over ghosts screaming at me and grabbing my ankles. I hope I get to do it again next year." The bright spots of Harry's year had been the two gatherings he'd been to with other apprentices, and he hoped he'd get to go to one again the next summer.

* * *

Harry was disappointed the next day when Seamus came and found him, looking anxious, and told him they wouldn't be spending Christmas morning together.

"What's going on?" Harry asked him. He'd never seen Seamus look this anxious about anything before, not even the big Herbology test he'd stressed out about the previous year.

"My parents got permission to stay in the castle for Christmas. They're coming later tonight and I'm going to spend Christmas in guest quarters with them."

"Are you ok with that?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I miss them I mean, but I don't know if they're coming because they're going to take me out of school or not. Professor McGonagall said they weren't, that they just wanted to visit since I wasn't willing to go home to them."

"Maybe it is just a visit," Harry tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, maybe," Seamus said.

"Well, look," Harry told him, pulling out a little package from under his own little Christmas tree in his quarters. "I was going to give this to you tomorrow, but since I won't see you, you can open it now."

Seamus looked surprised and took the little package wrapped in plain white paper uncertainly. "You got something for me? Even after-" he trailed away.

Harry shrugged. "Go on," he said, and Seamus pulled the paper away to reveal a little cardboard box. He opened it and inside there was a sack with what Harry considered to be the better skivs from the twins. He didn't have any money for gifts, but he'd worked out a deal with the twins to get some of their candy from them if he helped them brew the potions they needed to make the candies. Harry had even given them the idea to make candy that turned people's eyes the colors of their house and had looked up the potions they needed to do that.

"Skivs?" Seamus asked.

"Don't worry, they're not the ones that will make you sick. See the bright circular ones, they'll change your hair whatever color the candy is for half an hour. If you eat two different ones at once they'll give you streaks of both colors. And the flat ones with white stripes give you more energy for twenty minutes, so they're good if you're tired and just need to power through an assignment for a few more minutes. I know it's not much, but-"

"It's great," Seamus said. He looked touched that Harry had thought of him at all. "I wish I hadn't been such a jerk to you this year."

"Well," Harry said, "you're not being a jerk now."

They stood there in awkward silence for several moments before Harry remembered that he needed to get ready to meet Snape.

"Where are you going?" Seamus asked when Harry pulled his boots on and started layering up.

"I don't know. Master Snape just said to layer up and meet him at eight. Maybe we're going out to the greenhouse to do something with my project." Harry had been out to check on his project and had been pleased to find he'd been given his own workbench, right next to a workbench that had a plaque that had Neville's name on it. The greenhouse was warm and well lit, and Harry wanted to know what Snape was growing in there. Perhaps Snape was going to show him tonight.

At a few minutes til' eight Harry went down to the Entrance Hall and found Snape waiting for him. The man held out a heavy dark gray traveling cloak and Harry took it uncertainly.

"Put this on. It is yours."

Harry put it on over his coat and hoodie and then they went out through the heavy oak front doors and into the night. Snow was falling gently as they started down the drive towards the school boundary.

"That cloak is waterproof and flame resistant. It will not save you if you are in a fire, but it has been soaked in a flame retardant potion. It should keep the wind and rain off of you if you are out in the elements, and hold your body heat in."

Harry thought the cloak was nice. He'd never had a heavy winter cloak like this before. Some of the students had them, but generally they were something he saw adults wearing. It was soft on the inside so it didn't scratch at his neck where the clasp held it to his body, and it draped down around him to his knees.

"Where are we going sir?" Harry asked as they neared the school boundary ten minutes later.

"We have somewhere to be. A gathering."

"Are we collecting ingredients tonight?"

"No."

Harry wondered why he was being so tight-lipped about where they were going and hoped dearly the man wasn't taking him to wherever the Dursleys were. At the boundary he took hold of Harry's arm and apparated them away. A moment later they reappeared in a dark clearing in the forest somewhere, and in the distance they could hear shouts of laughter and Harry could just make out the warm glow of a fire up ahead in the darkness. It wasn't snowing here, but the ground was covered in deep snow.

"On Christmas Eve, potions masters and apprentices across the world gather to share a meal and stories of their year."

Harry's heart leapt with excitement for a moment. He hoped Soren was going to be here.

"Any potions master or apprentice could turn up at any gathering and would be welcome," Severus said. "If we were to find this gathering boring, we could move on to another one."

"Boring?" Harry asked.

"Occasionally the conversation grows stale."

Harry didn't care about conversation, he was just happy to be out of the castle and doing something with others. Tomorrow he would be lonely since Seamus would be with his family, so he was excited to get to do something for Christmas at all.

"Ho!" Severus called out as they approached the fire.

A chorus of voices responded, "Ho!"

Reflections of orange flames danced up the trees, covered in snow, and up into the clear sky. There was a little Christmas tree, smaller than Harry's, decorated in silver tinsel and fairy lights floating eight or nine feet above the bonfire, and twelve or more people were sitting on logs or their cloaks visiting.

Despite that the ground was covered in snow, the fire had melted the snow off in their little clearing, and the area was warm from the crackling flames, the heat licking at Harry's chilled skin.

"Severus?" someone called out, "Is that you? We haven't seen you at a bonfire in ages!"

"This is my apprentice Harry," Severus said instead of answering the question. He indicated Harry and all eyes turned to him.

"Yes, we'd heard you had an apprentice! Come sit down by the fire! There's roast ham and chicken and we have coffee and hot chocolate!"

Severus leaned in to Harry and said, "Do not wander out of sight of the bonfire."

"Yes sir." Severus went to an empty seat on a log next to two potions masters that seemed eager to talk to him, and Harry was left on his own to find a place to sit.

"Here," said a boy that couldn't have been too much older than him. He had dark red hair that was almost brown and Harry didn't recognize him so he must have already graduated Hogwarts.

Harry went to him and took a seat. This must be the group of apprentices given that they were the younger of the people gathered there.

"We'll have the second bonfire going shortly," a girl with raven black hair like Harry's said. It was just long enough to fall into her face, and Harry noted that she was piling wood up for a second fire set further back into the trees away from the main gathering. "Grab some wood and dry it out with your wand," she told him.

"I'm not 17," he said.

"Doesn't matter here," the boy that had first called him over told him. "Ministry's too stupid to know which of us is using magic in a gathering this size."

Harry used his wand to melt some snow and picked up several fallen branches and did his best to dry them out. He piled them next to the second fire pit, and within a few minutes the girl had the fire going and crackling merrily. The apprentices used their wands to melt the snow so they could sit on the ground on their cloaks or on a fallen log one of them had found under the snow. They were close enough to the main bonfire that they could hear questions being shouted to them and respond, but far enough away that it felt like a private gathering all on its own.

"You're Harry Potter?" the girl with raven hair asked.

Harry nodded.

"I'm Mairi. I'm in my third year. I'm seventeen."

Harry raised his brows at her. He'd never seen her at Hogwarts before and didn't think there were that many apprentices like him that had been apprenticed under the age of 17. When she saw the look on Harry's face she laughed and said, "I go to a little school far in the north that's part of a coven. There's about twenty kids that go."

"I didn't realize there were other schools here," Harry said.

"People are ignorant," the redheaded boy said from beside him.

Harry turned to look at him. "I grew up in the Muggle world. There's a lot I'm still learning. Do you go to the coven school too?"

"It's West Ire, and no. I graduated Hogwarts two years back."

"Don't mind him," Mairi said. "That's Isaac Wood. He's apprenticed to master Ida."

Harry frowned. He'd heard these names before. "Do you know Soren?" he asked Isaac.

"Yeah."

"I think we both helped him at the same haunted house on Halloween."

"I know." That was all Isaac seemed to have to say about the matter however. He poked the fire with a stick and let his hair fall forward into his face.

The other five apprentices at the smaller bonfire exchanged names. It seemed most of them knew each other already, but not all of them. Harry, Mairi, and Isaac were the youngest of them there.

One of the older apprentices went to the big bonfire and brought back mugs of steaming hot chocolate and passed them around, and then went back again and brought over a huge bowl filled with hot grilled meat that had been roasting on a spit over the big bonfire. The bowl was passed around and Harry snagged a huge piece of blackened ham that was juicy and tasted amazing. He listened as the other apprentices talked of their adventures that year, and when the others turned to him, he told them about his first year as an apprentice.

"You're a wiley one," an older apprentice named Bram said. "You're gonna be off doing crazy things like Soren, I can tell."

"I dunno," Harry said. "I just like foraging in the woods."

"Yeah but you fought a dragon last year in the Tri-Wizard tournament," another apprentice said.

Harry shrugged.

"Seems someone who fights dragons would know he's living on an edge the rest of us wouldn't cross," Isaac said. Harry didn't know what he meant by it. His voice had sounded bitter, or full of derision maybe. Harry couldn't tell and wasn't sure if this was just the way Isaac was or if he was irritated with Harry or by his presence. As the night wore on however, Harry noted that Isaac spoke to everyone this way. He seemed shy, keen to keep his eyes hidden behind his hair and shoulders often hunched in on himself. He seemed to be having a good time, but spoke as if he wasn't.

"What's your school like?" Harry had ended up asking Mairi after he'd been there with them for a couple of hours. "You said it's called West Ire?"

"It's four little stone buildings on the edge of the coven up on a hill overlooking the ocean. My brother Ewan goes too. One building's the kitchen and dining hall. Another has two classrooms. A third has one big room for dueling and defense lessons and also has a little infirmary room. The fourth building is where the three teachers have their offices."

"Students don't live at the school?" Harry asked.

"We all live in the village. Only coven kids go there. It's only a ten minute walk from the school to my house."

"What do you learn there aside from defense?" Harry asked.

"Same as you do I'd imagine. Potions, defense, herbology, history, runes, arithmancy, astronomy, and there's a class about magical creatures. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the stables. There's a big covered stable where the animals are kept and that's where we have magical creatures class. Only thing that's probably really different from Hogwarts is we go to school year round."

"Really? No breaks at all?" Harry asked.

"We get a week for Christmas, a week in the spring, a week in summer and a week in fall. We only go to school til' two in the afternoon though and only four days a week. It's nice because it gives me lots of time to do my apprenticeship."

"I didn't think there were too many young apprentices like me," Harry told her.

"Well I'm apprenticed to my uncle. Have been since I was fifteen. He lives next door and we travel when we have our week long breaks from school and on our three day weekends. Otherwise we gather and brew with a lot of ingredients we get from the stables. My uncle teaches potions and magical creatures there so we have access to dragon scales and cornish pixie droppings and all sorts of things."

"You work with dragons?" Harry asked. "Is it dangerous?"

"Every student at the school has to raise a dragon. The ones we work with are of a dwarf variety. There's Cornish Redflames," here she pulled her arms apart to indicate they were about as big as a person, "and Green Spikes, they're very small, about the size of a big dog, and we have Pink Puffs too, but only a few of those."

"So it's not like what Soren does collecting ingredients from dragon dens then?" Harry asked.

"Not at all. All of the dragons at West Ire live in the stables. They shed scales on a regular basis so it's easy for us to collect what we need. Last week one of the baby Pink Puffs lost a tooth fighting with a Green Spike and we found it in the hay."

"That sounds like fun," Harry said.

Someone brought over a bowl full of squares of cake and Harry snagged a piece when it was passed around the apprentice fire. He was full, warm, and happy. It was everything he hadn't expected to be on Christmas Eve after being told he had to return to the Dursleys.

Mairi got caught up in a conversation with one of the older apprentices and was then pulled away to the main bonfire where her uncle wanted her to tell a story to a tall severe looking woman with light gray hair pulled into a bun. She reminded Harry a bit of Professor McGonagall.

"That's master Ida," Isaac said, not even looking up at Harry. Harry found it odd to talk to someone who always looked like they were ignoring you.

"Is she your master?" Harry asked.

"Yes. She's my mother's friend." He was quiet for a moment and then added, "Stricter than a muggle nun."

Harry stared at him open-mouthed for a minute before he realized Isaac was smiling. Suddenly the words Harry thought might be cruel earlier had morphed into something entirely different. Isaac wasn't mean, just sarcastic, and the things he thought were funny weren't always clearly understood by others, Harry included. Soren got along with Isaac, Harry knew because Soren had called Isaac his friend. Soren was easy going though and seemed to get along with just about everybody.

"She must get along well with master Snape then," Harry said with a little smile. Isaac laughed and Harry pulled his new winter cloak up around his neck a little to ward off the chilly breeze that had picked up.

"What house were you in?" Harry asked him.

"Slytherin."

"The Head Girl's a Slytherin," Harry commented.

"Who is it?"

"Her name's Aoife."

"Don't know her," Isaac said.

"Are you related to Oliver Wood?" Harry asked him. Wood was a fairly common last name in the magical community and not all of them were related, but Harry was interested to know.

"My younger cousin. He graduated a year after me."

Isaac didn't seem interested in talking further and the other apprentices were all engaged in conversations that didn't interest Harry, so he let his eyes wander to the main bonfire. It appeared that a few new people had arrived, but Harry didn't see Soren or anyone else he knew.

At nearly midnight Snape collected him from the apprentice fire and led him off into the woods back the way they'd come.

"It is late. The gathering will go on well into the night, but we must go," he told Harry.

"Yes sir."

Harry assumed they were going back to Hogwarts, but was surprised to find that Snape had apparated him to someplace else entirely. At first he thought they might have been going to another gathering, but found that they were outside a Muggle petrol station that was closed for the night along a Muggle road somewhere. Harry was just about to ask what they were doing there when he heard a familiar voice behind them.

"Harry! Severus! I've only just arrived. I was hoping I hadn't missed you."

Harry turned and found Mr. Weasley, bundled up against the cold and smiling broadly.

"Arthur," Snape greeted him.

Mr. Weasley clapped his hands and rubbed them together to warm them up. "Are you ready to go Harry? Molly's waiting for you at home with a big mug of hot tea."

Harry turned to Snape with question in his eyes and Severus said, "You will be going to the Burrow for Christmas. I assume this is acceptable?"

Harry couldn't help but stare at him. He'd arranged for Harry to spend Christmas with Ron's family? There was nothing the man could have done to make Harry want to hug him, except perhaps this. Harry didn't hug him because he was certain he'd be shouted at, and that would just be embarrassing. "Yes sir," he said instead, trying hard not to smile. If the man knew how happy he was he might shout at him anyway. Snape's lips upturned just a bit however and Harry smiled despite his efforts not to and turned to Mr. Weasley.

"Merry Christmas Severus!" Arthur said, and Snape nodded his head and disappeared with a loud pop. A moment later Mr. Weasley took a gentle hold of Harry's arm and said, "We'd best get going then!"

They re-appeared just outside the front gate at the Burrow, which was covered in snow. There was a warm light spilling out of the kitchen window despite the late hour and bathing the snow covered garden in a warm glow.

"Mr. Weasley," Harry said, "why did we meet at a petrol station?"

"As I understand it Severus is still recovering from a bout of long distance apparations that drained his core. He had already apparated you at least twice tonight, or was it more?"

"Twice," Harry said.

"He owled us and asked if you could spend Christmas with Ron, and I agreed to meet with him at a petrol station near to wherever you were having your holiday gathering."

"Thank you," Harry told him gratefully. He was still shocked that Snape had set this up for him. It was so unexpectedly... nice.

Before they got to the back door leading into the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley pulled the door open and wrapped her arms around Harry, pulling him inside into the warmth of the house.

"Harry, I'm so glad you're home. Ron's been talking about you coming all day. Tried to convince Arthur to fetch you early."

Harry let her hug him for as long as she wanted. He wasn't going to complain when this sort of thing happened so infrequently. When she finally let him go she ushered him to the table where she had tea and cookies waiting for him and Arthur both. "How was your gathering dear?" she asked him.

Harry described the meeting in the woods and some of the apprentices he had met.

"I know of Ida Eadmond," Arthur said, taking a sip of his tea. "I've never met her apprentice but I hear he's a surly sort. She's very well known for intricate potions that require attention to detail. There's one that took her over a year to brew for the Department Of Mysteries at the Ministry. She travels to Europe quite a lot. I assume her apprentice will know all sorts of interesting brewing methods from all of their travels."

When Harry had finished his tea it was almost one in the morning, and Mrs. Weasley sent him up to Ron's room to go to bed. A spot was made up for him on the floor on top of two blankets with a big squishy pillow and a heavy quilt to cover himself with. Ron was snoring gently in his bed, comic book open across his chest and Harry didn't want to wake him, so he took off his traveling cloak and climbed under the quilt on the floor. It wasn't long before he had drifted into a content doze himself.

* * *

"Harry," Ron said, shaking him awake.

Eyes blurry from getting only a few hours of sleep, Harry rubbed at his face and sat up. The sun had just begun to rise and fill Ron's room with weak light. "Hm?" he asked.

"When did you get in? I tried to wait up for you."

"I think it was around 12:30 when your dad brought me back."

"Why did you have to come so late? Mum said you had some sort of Christmas party."

Harry wanted to tell his friend about it, but needed a chance to wake up a little more first. "Your mum will have made coffee right?"

"Sure," Ron said. Without another word Ron left his room and padded out into the hallway in his socks. A few minutes later he returned with a mug of coffee mixed with hot chocolate.

Harry mumbled gratefully to him and wrapped his hands around the mug, taking a sip and letting it warm him up, though the room was already quite warm and so was the quilt around him.

"I didn't get to grab your presents," Harry said. "They're still in my quarters under the tree."

"Dad went and got your stuff last night before he got you," Ron said.

"He did?"

Ron pointed and there against a wall was Harry's backpack. Harry reached over and opened it, and found a change of clothes and several wrapped gifts.

After changing quickly Harry and Ron went downstairs and found the rest of Ron's family at the table, waiting for them so they could eat breakfast.

"Merry Christmas Harry!" Ginny said.

"Oy, what about me?" Ron asked.

Ginny shot him a look and Fred and George laughed. "No Christmas for you Ron," George said, "you're doing all the dishes today."

"Yeah yeah," Ron muttered, taking a seat next to Harry.

"Ron told mum his gift to her would be doing the dishes all day long," Ginny supplied and Harry grinned at his friend. Maybe he'd help him.

Harry had really enjoyed the gathering in the woods the night before, but nothing compared to sitting around the table with friends, the warmth of their smiles, and the sincerity of their well wishes for him.

After breakfast Harry pitched in with the dishes so they could make short work of it and get to the living room where the rest of the family was waiting by the fire. Harry retrieved the gifts for his friends from Ron's room and then they sat down to open presents. Ron and Ginny each had a gift for Harry, and so did Mrs. Weasley. Apparently when the house elves had packed Harry's bag, they'd also packed the gifts from Hermione and Neville as well, so Harry had several things to open.

"What did Professor Snape get you for Christmas dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked as Harry opened her gift, a soft dark blue sweater that was hand knitted. It had a small silver H on the left side of the chest, and a golden Snitch on the center.

"Hm?" Harry asked. Snape hadn't gotten him anything. Well, he had Harry supposed, because he'd set it up for Harry to come here. That wasn't exactly true though, because he had given Harry something else. "A warm winter cloak," Harry said.

"The one you were wearing last night?" Molly asked. Harry nodded.

"That was a very expensive looking cloak," Arthur said. "Is it waterproof?"

"Yeah, and flame resistant too. It's very soft and warm."

Even Ron seemed to be impressed with it, and Harry wondered just how much cloaks cost.

Ron had given Harry a novel about an apprentice who ended up getting accidentally signed to an international Quidditch team, and Ginny had knitted Harry a new hat that was a soft grayish blue. Hermione's gift was a handsome hinged wooden box that opened up to reveal an empty potions kit. It had four glass phials with stoppers, two little boxes with lids for ingredients, a place for two small knives, and a spot for a small book. Everything had its place and was held down by straps or fit into spaces in the blue velvet lined box. Neville's gift was a book about mushroom hybridization.

Just like with Seamus, Harry didn't have money to buy his other friends gifts. Instead he had spent a Saturday brewing potions in the dungeons for his friends. Snape hadn't questioned him when he set up in a corner of the Saturday lab and started working on potions that weren't on the OWL list, and had left him alone to brew all day despite that the lab was only open to other students for two hours.

"What's it for?" Ron asked when he opened the orange potion Harry had given him.

"It's for your bag, or your cloak or whatever you want to put it on. If you soak fabric of any sort in it it becomes waterproof and potion proof. Nothing will stain it, not even if you spill something on it in potions class."

"Awesome," Ron said. He was always complaining about potions and herbology class because his clothes got dirty or stained, and he didn't often get new clothes. Harry sympathized with him, knowing exactly how he felt.

When Ginny opened hers Harry said, "It's ink. I made it with one of the mushrooms I've been growing and mixed it up with a few other things. Try it."

Mrs. Weasley got a quill from the side table beside Mr. Weasley's arm chair and handed it to her along with a scrap of parchment. Ginny dipped the quill in the bottle of shimmering ink and wrote her name. The ink glistened on the paper, and changed colors from black, to dark purple, to dark blue and even green depending on which way the paper was tilted and caught the light.

"I love it Harry, thank you," she said. Harry had also given Hermione a bottle, but hers was tinted to show red, pink, and reddish purple depending on the way the light hit the words written with it.

"Don't see gifts with our names on them," Fred said, teasing Harry. Harry pulled two satchels out of his hoodie pocket though and handed them forward. Fred's eyes lit up when he saw what was inside.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

Fred cinched the satchel up and pulled it towards himself. "I think it's best if only Fred and I know," he said.

"Some sort of potions ingredient I bet," Ron said. Fred and George didn't necessarily like potions, but they both had good grades in the class and had based their first products for their joke shop off of a variety of potions they had brewed to make candies. Ron turned to Harry and said, "You're gonna tell me later, right?"

Harry only grinned at him and raised his hands.

They spent the day playing games and talking by the fire. It was just before dinner when Mr. Weasley said, "It's about time to go Harry. You'll be flooing to Madam Rosmerta's in Hogsmeade to meet Severus."

"Ok," Harry told him. He turned to Mrs. Weasley and said, "Thank you for having me."

"Of course Harry. We're so glad you could come this year. We've been asking Albus for years to have you." Harry grinned at her.

After he'd collected his bag and his gifts inside of it, Harry turned to Mrs. Weasley and said, "Mrs. Weasley. Seamus had to stay behind at school this year. I'm not sure he's had a good day. Would it be ok to take a couple of your cookies back to him? She'd made several plates of cookies which they'd been eating all day. There were chocolate chip, soft peppermint cookies with peppermint pieces, gingerbread, and orange spice crackle cookies.

"Of course, let me just put some in a bag for him. How thoughtful!"

She put a few of each in along with a few pieces of hard peppermint and butterscotch candy she'd made from scratch, and Harry tucked it away into his bag.

He didn't want to leave and wished he could stay for the rest of the holiday until January 5th and then ride back on the Hogwarts Express with his friends.

After several minutes of goodbyes, Arthur threw a handful of Floo powder into the grate and said, "Madam Rosmerta's Bar, Hogsmeade," and motioned for Harry to step into the green flames. He stepped in and was gone in a flash. Despite not being able to get himself to Ron's house, he'd ended up there anyway. So much had happened in just two weeks he couldn't wrap his head around it all, and there was still more than a week left before school started again.

Severus was at a table by the fireplace drinking something hot when Harry appeared in a flash of green flame. Harry noted that Umbridge was also present but at a table further back talking to a man he didn't know. Maybe he was from the Ministry.

"Did you have a good time?" Severus asked.

"Yes sir, thank you."

"Did you make a nuisance of yourself?"

"No sir."

Severus gave a nod, satisfied that Harry had behaved himself just on his word (a first), and led Harry out of the bar and into the streets of Hogsmeade. It had only been a few days ago that they'd come through here on their way back from Snape's flat in Camden Alley, but it felt like it had been months.

As they walked down the cobbled lane, Harry was too happy to be aware that Umbridge's eyes followed him through the window, narrowed and plotting.

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.

"No," Harry said, wincing at the half wrapped bar of chocolate. "I don't think I'll be able to eat chocolate again for a long time. Thanks though." His stomach was roiling just looking at it and the scent of the old toad brains was stuck in his nose. "Put it away before I lose my dinner," Harry begged, and Ron wrapped the foil around the chocolate bar again and stuck it in his pocket.

"Kind of rotten making you do these detentions when you did us all a favor," Ron said in a low tone, aware that Umbridge or other staff could come down either corridor bordering Harry's quarters at any moment. Ron technically wasn't supposed to be there hanging out with Harry. Harry wouldn't be able to really hang out with his friends again until Monday unless it was at meal times.

Ron had one more corridor to get down on his way back to Gryffindor tower before he could end his patrol for the night, and Harry had homework he had to finish before bed, so they said goodnight and Harry went into his quarters, still feeling sick to his stomach.

The day after he'd broken the quill, all of the Gryffindor Prefects had come down Gryffindor table to sit with him to ask if he'd accomplished his task, and he'd recounted all of the details for them, including how Umbridge had refused to answer questions about why the quill was so special or had so many protective charms surrounding it. Harry assumed the other Gryffindor Prefects had spread the word to Prefects in other houses, because none of them had been giving Harry looks anymore as if they were asking him to hurry up and complete his task.

Despite what McGonagall had said about other students not knowing why Harry had sent a spit wad at Umbridge, and him setting a bad example, by the end of the week when Harry was finally done with all of his detentions, every student seemed to know, from first year Slytherins all the way up to seventh year Ravenclaws. According to Ron, Harry was a legend for sacrificing his hand and his time for eleven detentions to save other students the pain and suffering of the blood quill.

"It had to be done," Harry told him in the Saturday potions lab before Snape came in. "It's not that big of a deal."

"It is, you just don't realize it," Ron told him. Others who had come in for the potions lab seemed to have been listening, and as Harry looked around, he received nods from several of them, including some of the Hufflepuffs who had previously given him a hard time.

Snape came into the room with a stack of parchments, probably student essays that had been turned in Friday that needed to be graded. "Harry," he said, and pointed to a desk in the corner away from where Ron and Neville were setting up for the lab.

"Sir, can't Harry sit here to help us?" Ron tried.

"Mr. Potter is still in trouble until Monday," Snape said in a stern tone to Ron.

Harry moved his things to the workbench in the corner, but as he went, back to Snape and his friends, he smiled. Master Snape had used his first name again.

* * *

Sunday evening there was a knock on the door to his room and Harry jumped up, excited and hoping it was Ron or Neville coming to see him despite that he was still not supposed to hang out with friends until the next day. When he opened the door he was surprised to find Snape.

"May I come in?" he asked, and Harry nodded and stepped back to give him entrance. Snape shut the door and Harry stuck his hands in his pockets, not sure if he should invite the man to sit by the fire or not. Snape didn't ask and went to sit by the fire on the couch anyway, leaving the squashy arm chair for Harry.

"As of tomorrow at breakfast, you may spend your free time where you will," Severus told him. He pulled a book out from an inner pocket of his robes and opened it up to a page near the end. "If you pull another reckless stunt, there will be more severe consequences than merely scrubbing floors and taking care of old potions ingredients."

Harry rubbed his hands nervously on the legs of his pants. What did that mean? The only thing more severe Harry could really think of was to be punished like his relatives would do. His mind flickered briefly to the potions supply cupboard and images of himself being locked in there for days on end played before his eyes, but he came back to himself rather quickly. Snape was staring at him.

"Where did you go just now?" Severus asked.

"Sir?"

"Your eyes glazed over. I assume you were no longer in this room."

Harry looked away towards the fire, feeling embarrassed.

"I cannot help you if you do not speak to me about the issues you are facing."

"It's not an issue," Harry said, clearing his throat.

"Then surely it will not be difficult for you to tell me where you went in your mind just now."

Harry's eyes came back around to meet Snape's again. "I was just wondering what kind of punishment you were talking about."

"Are you planning on putting yourself in a reckless and dangerous situation again?"

Harry shook his head.

Severus sighed and said, "I will come up with more creative detentions for you to serve. I will never put you into danger or cause you harm. Embarrassment perhaps," he threatened, and Harry wondered just what he had in mind. Instead of elaborating he indicated the book and said, "OWLs are still many months away, however it would be prudent for me to test you now and see where you are at. This is an OWL study book for potions and it has practice tests inside."

Harry relaxed a little. The man hadn't come to chastise him again, just to test him and help him get ready for his OWLs. It had been a while since they'd done anything potions related together aside from Harry going to classes and occasionally the Saturday Potions lab.

"Name the 12 classes of healing potions," Severus read from the book, and Harry began listing them off, going through each class in his mind and making sure he hadn't missed any. It appeared he'd got them all right because Severus moved on to the next question. "What are the five steps in preserving grade one potions ingredients?"

They went on this way for almost an hour before they made it through the end of the practice test.

"How are you doing with the list of OWL potions?"

"I can brew them all from memory except for the last ten on the list which we haven't covered in class yet."

Severus gave him a serious look. "Do you believe you could brew those without practice if given the recipe and ingredients?"

Harry shrugged. "I think so." He hadn't had trouble with any of the potions so far that year when he was asked to brew them as the rest of the class had to. It was only when he had to brew the potions with the wrong ingredients that he struggled, but even then he was getting better at finding the right ratios more quickly.

"I would like for you to try the last ten potions this week in class. There is no reason for you to stay back while the rest of the class struggles if you are capable of moving ahead with the material."

"Ok," Harry said. Hermione was always ahead in their classes, and Harry felt proud to finally be ahead in something himself.

"If you are able to brew the remaining ten potions this week, I will allow you to do something else for most of your remaining potions class periods this year."

"Different potions you mean?" Harry asked.

Severus gave him a serious look and said, "It appears you made quite an impression on two of the apprentices at the Christmas Eve gathering. Both of them have asked their masters if you can come and help them with their personal projects."

"Really? And I'd get to do that when I'm supposed to be in Potions class?"

"As it is double potions followed by lunch, that would give you three full hours to be away from the castle. You would be able to use the floo in the Headmaster's office to get to and from where you need to be."

"Who asked about me?" He'd spoken to a lot of people but wanted to confirm that it was the two people he thought it was.

"Mairi Macleod and her master Hunter Macleod. They said you had expressed an interest in the dragons being raised at East and West Ire. Isaac Wood also inquired about you, and his master Ida Eadmond has agreed to teach you several of the techniques from France that Isaac has been learning this year."

Severus leaned forward from his spot on the couch and said, "You must be on your best behavior when you are away from the castle. Master Eadmond is very strict and will not hesitate to report back to me any misbehavior or poor direction following. She is also on the Council of Potions Mastery, so I suggest you do not tell her of any..." he trailed off for a moment, looking for the right words. Trying again he said, "She would be very displeased to find that you do not want to be a potions apprentice. That would not go well for either of us."

Harry held his gaze and gave a solemn nod. "I'll be careful sir."

"See that you are. If there is any misbehavior here at Hogwarts, or if your other grades are dropping, I will rescind the privilege of getting to leave during the day time and you will be required to return to my class and follow along with your peers. All of this hinges on your ability to show me you can brew the last ten potions of the year correctly this week."

"I can do it," Harry said with confidence. He didn't know if he wanted to work with Isaac and his master, but he definitely wanted to visit Mairi and her uncle to work with dragons. His mind flickered back to the novels in the bookstore on Camden Alley for a moment. He'd avoided the apprenticeship novels about potions apprentices, thinking they'd be boring. Now he wasn't so sure they would be. He'd never imagined that potions masters and their apprentices gathered at bonfires on Christmas Eve, traveled to collect ingredients, or worked with dragons. It was far more exciting than he had previously thought.

* * *

"Harry," Ron greeted him the next morning at breakfast. He'd risen early as it was his morning to supervise the Great Hall for early risers, and he was surprised to find Harry there by himself at Gryffindor table with their potions textbook open in front of him.

"Sorry," Harry said, not looking up. "I can't stay."

"But-" Ron sat down, confused. "It's an hour til breakfast still. You don't have early detention or anything do you?"

"I have to go to the potions lab and try to brew this potion."

Ron looked at the page and said, "We're not supposed to brew that til' next week."

"I'm brewing it today. I'm brewing all the rest of the potions in the text book this week. I want to try it this morning before class and it only takes twenty minutes to brew. If I hurry I can brew it four times before breakfast is over."

"Whoa, wait, why do you have to do all the potions ahead of time?"

Harry stood up, bag over his shoulder and book in hand. "Sorry," he said, "I'll tell you later," he called over his shoulder, leaving Ron there looking perplexed. Ron might have gone with him if he hadn't needed to stay in the Great Hall.

Later that day after Harry left Defense (where Umbridge spent the entire class writing down notes in her notebook every time she looked at Harry), he hurried down to the dungeons and began setting up his cauldron before Snape or the rest of the class arrived. He was already brewing when Ron and Hermione came in a few minutes later.

"What are you brewing so early?" Hermione asked.

"Don't ask," Ron advised her.

"Well it's not something dangerous is it?" she asked, coming over to look, but Harry held his hand up to stop her.

Because Harry was at a difficult part of the potion he couldn't focus on answering her questions. Instead Ron answered for him, "It's next week's potion. He's going to brew all the rest of the potions for the year this week. He hasn't said why yet."

"But we haven't even gone over those yet."

Harry threw a pinch of black powder into the cauldron just as Snape came into the room, and there was a flash of light and sound as Harry's potion burned off completely, leaving in its place a puddle of black sludge in the bottom of the cauldron.

Hermione winced, thinking it was ruined, but Harry was looking proudly down into the cauldron. Master Snape came over to look too.

"Good," he said. "Move on to the next one on the list."

"You mean that's what it's supposed to look like?" Ron leaned in to Harry and whispered.

"Yup. Messed it up twice this morning before I figured out you really have to throw the powder in to get it to ignite."

Master Snape called the class to order and set them to work trying to master the potion they'd spent the last two weeks on. Only a few people in class had mastered it so far, and for the ones who had they were practicing doing it again.

Harry began to clear his workspace and clean up his knife and cauldron. He wanted to see if he could get all the way through the next potion on the list by the end of class.

* * *

"West Ire," Ron said later that evening at dinner, "I've heard of that. Some kind of coven isn't it?" Harry was shoveling food off of his plate and into his mouth. He was headed back to the dungeons after dinner. He hadn't mastered the second potion on his list yet and if he didn't do it today, he wouldn't get through all ten that week. Master Snape had agreed to let him work in his private potions lab until curfew as he had brewing he had to do himself that evening as well.

"That's the name of the school," Harry said. "The girl's school. I guess the boys go to school on another island called East Ire. I don't know what the coven is called. Do covens have names?" Harry asked.

"There are a few around the country," Hermione said. "I read a little about them but I'll have to look up the one on Skaw."

"Sometimes when mum gets mad at dad she threatens to take all of us and move us to a coven," Ron said, mouth full of potatoes. "I didn't realize covens had schools of their own. I thought all the kids just went to Hogwarts."

"What exactly is a coven?" Harry asked.

Ron and Harry both looked at Hermione, but apparently the little reading she had done on the subject was just that, a little. She didn't know. Ron answered instead. "It's a group of people that don't approve of the Ministry of Magic and that don't want to follow Ministry laws. I mean, they have to, because they live in the country, but inside the coven they have their own laws. Each coven has different laws to follow I guess."

Harry glanced up at the Head table where Umbridge was sitting and writing in the notebook she always had with her now. "A coven doesn't sound too bad right about now," Harry said. "I bet they don't have the Ministry forcing people like Umbridge on them."

"You could ask Professor Snape about it," Hermione said.

Harry nodded. "Maybe I will tonight."

He finished his dinner quickly and said goodbye to his friends, and then headed to the dungeons. Snape hadn't been at dinner that night, and Harry wondered if it was because he'd taken dinner in his quarters.

As Harry worked on the second potion on his list that evening, and master Snape worked on some sort of caustic potion on a different workbench in his private lab, Harry asked him what kinds of laws were different in covens.

"It depends on the coven," he said. "There are covens where only women are allowed to live, and covens only for men. The coven on Skaw has people of both genders. When one moves into a coven they must agree to follow all coven laws before they are accepted. This one in particular believes the Ministry of Magic frequently oversteps its bounds and they do not agree on Ministry laws regarding magical creatures, or witches and wizards afflicted with lycanthropy or vampirism. Because the Ministry deals with covens differently than regular citizens, they are allowed to have their own laws. As an example, you or I would never be allowed to own a dragon or to raise one. On Skaw, coven students are all assigned a dragon to raise as soon as they are old enough to start school at the age of eleven."

"That's so cool," Harry said.

"There are two all female covens, both strictly against men. All of the women that live there are single, and if they have male children, the male children must leave by the time they are seventeen. Male children, brothers, uncles, and fathers may only visit the women in the coven twice a year, and only for two hours at a time, unless the visit takes place outside of the coven. Otherwise both of those covens follow all ministry laws."

"Why would they want to live without men?" Harry asked. He couldn't imagine living without his friends, or without Ginny or Hermione.

"Some men are not very nice to their wives or families. Many women take their children and leave abusive husbands and seek refuge in those two covens. The covens have powerful wards around them and powerful witches that live there. They are more than able to protect themselves and their residents. That is not the case of all residents of those two covens however. Some simply enjoy the peace and solitude of the type of lifestyle a coven offers."

"What do you mean?"

"They grow and forage for their own food, live in a society that is strictly against violence against its members, and don't often interact with the outside world. Covens are tight knit communities of like minded individuals. Some covens have more contact with the outside world than others. The one on Skaw for instance does not isolate themselves, which is the only reason you will be allowed to visit, if you stop talking and focus on mastering that potion."

Harry grinned and said, "I'm done. I moved on to the third one ten minutes ago."

Master Snape turned and saw a bottled blue potion on the workbench in the center of the room. He turned back to his own potion and let the corners of his lips turn up into a small smile. A year ago, or even at the start of the previous summer, he wouldn't have thought Potter could move through the material he'd been given so fast. Out of the many students he'd seen pass through Hogwarts in his time as a teacher, Harry was one of only a handful of prospects he would have considered a natural. He snorted, causing Harry to turn and look at him for a moment, but Severus didn't see. Until the last few months, he never would have believed the child was a natural at brewing potions if he hadn't seen it for his own eyes. Apparently all the boy had needed was time and attention, which is what an apprenticeship was for.

* * *

The Headmaster was happy to see Harry at the door to his office a week later, and greeted him warmly. "Harry my boy, how have you been doing? Well it seems, given that Severus has agreed to let you out of his class for this wonderful opportunity!"

"Yeah," Harry said with a grin. He was wearing his hoodie and warm winter cloak, dragonhide gloves in his hands. He'd just gotten out of Defense, where Umbridge had tried to keep him as late as she could knowing he was due to leave via the Headmaster's floo at exactly ten am.

The Headmaster held out a jar of Floo Powder to Harry and said, "When you return, you must have the address and the password. You must say, ‘Office of Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts, Lemon Ginger Tea.'"

Harry repeated it twice, and when Albus was satisfied he gave a nod to Harry and Harry stepped into the grate and threw the floo powder at his feet, calling out exactly as master Snape had instructed him, "Hunter's Haven, Skaw." He disappeared in a flash of green and after a dizzying journey past dozens of fireplaces, he came out of a small fireplace and into a little home with wood floors and white wood walls. Mairi was at a little wooden kitchen table waiting for him, and greeted him with a smile.

"There you are! You took your time."

"Sorry," Harry said. "I was getting instructions on coming back."

"C'mon, I was given special permission to leave school to greet you. We've got to get back or uncle Hunter will come looking for us, which means leaving his class."

Harry followed her out of the house and onto a little dirt lane. Fresh sea air swept past his face and he took in a deep breath. There was snow here, as there was at Hogwarts, but not as much. There was so much wind coming up off the sea and across the cliffs it seemed it had blown most of the snow away.

"This way," she said, leading him off down the lane. There were white houses and stone homes all the way down the lane on both sides. Children ran ahead of them and then disappeared between two houses, and Mairi was greeted by several adults as they passed.

"I know he's your uncle," Harry said, "but aren't you supposed to call him master?"

"Only when we're outside the coven, because that's what the Ministry expects," she said. "You can call him uncle too if you want."

"Erm-" Harry said, feeling uncertain.

"You'll see," she said.

After a brisk walk they left the little village and followed the lane up a hill and onto a grassy area. On three sides of them there were cliffs leading down to the sea, and ahead of them they could see the little school. The school buildings were white wood with stone bases just like the ones in the little village.

"That one's the stable," she said. "That's where we're going after we check in with uncle Hunter. From now on you'll come through the Floo on your own and come here. I can't keep skipping class."

"I'll be allowed? I mean, cuz I'll be inside the coven by myself?"

"Well it's not like you're here without permission. We're not shut-ins you know. We get visitors often. Besides, uncle Hunter vouched for you, and it's his Floo you're using."

She led him to one of the white school buildings and opened the door. When they got inside Harry's face turned red. It looked like they'd interrupted a class. Five younger girls around twelve years old were inside brewing a potion that looked like pepperup, and a man with dark brown hair was standing at the front writing something on a chalkboard.

"Mairi," he greeted her. "And you must be Harry. You and I didn't get a chance to speak at the gathering on Christmas Eve, but Mairi told me all about you." He came across the room and shook Harry's hand, which was icy.

"Put those gloves on," he advised. "They'll keep you warm."

Harry did as he was told and tried to ignore the class of girls that were watching him with curiosity.

"When Mairi told me you had an interest in what she was doing with dragons, I asked your master if you could come spend some time here. I'm glad he agreed. Why don't the two of you head out to the stables and get started. Harry, you'll need to watch the time and head back to my house to use the floo at least fifteen minutes before you're supposed to be back."

"Yes sir, I will. Thank you master Macleod."

He laughed then and so did the classroom full of little girls. "None of that," he said. "If we're outside of the coven it's master Hunter. Inside you can call me Hunter if you like."

"I told him to call you uncle," Mairi said, smirking.

"That works too, just don't forget to call me master Hunter when you're outside the coven. Don't want the potions mastery board getting their knickers in a twist. That'd work out poorly for you and me both, but you'd be in more trouble than me."

"Yes sir."

Mairi led him back outside, closing the door in a hurry to keep the wind and cold out of the classroom, and led him across the grassy grounds to the largest building, a tall two story stable. It was the only building not painted white. It was large and rectangular and open on both ends, though as soon as they got inside, Harry's skin was washed in warmth.

"Whoa, it's warm," Harry said, pleased.

"It's the dragons. If we don't leave the ends of the stable open all the heat would sit here and the stable would catch fire. Keep your gloves on though."

Harry gave a nod just as a girl flopped down from an upper part of the stable, hanging upside down as she looked at them, her long hair hanging below her. "Is that him Mairi?" she asked. "The boy from the bonfire?"

"Hi," Harry said.

"I'm Maven." She held out her hand to shake and Harry had to reach up to shake her hand. She pulled herself back up to the upper platform, and disappeared from sight.

"That's all you're gonna get from her," Mairi said, and moved off as if nothing had happened at all. Harry followed as she began pointing things out and giving him a tour.

"Each dragon gets their own stall. Pink puffs over there," she pointed, and Harry peered into a stall where a fat pink dragon about the size of Harry was sleeping. It was the color of pink cotton candy and despite that it had little wings, it looked far too rotund to fly.

"Cornish redflames are on this side," she said, and Harry went across the little center aisle and looked into another stall full of hay. There was a sleek black and red dragon staring up at him and every time it breathed, little orange flames shot out of his nose.

"How come the hay doesn't catch on fire?"

"It's all spelled not to."

She led him to a wooden ladder that led to the upper platforms and Harry went up and was surprised to see almost a dozen little green dragons the size of dogs clinging to the walls or ceiling. Little pink tongues flickered in and out of their mouths like serpents.

"And here are the green spikes," Mairi told him. "These one's don't breathe fire, but they've got a nasty bite so watch out. Don't touch the green spikes without your gloves on, and if one of the little ones tries to climb up your shirt it's best not to fight them."

"What do I do if one of them does try it?" Harry asked.

"Giggle a lot," the girl that had dropped in to say hello minutes before said. She was behind them sitting in the hay covered with several of the green dragons. "It tickles when they lick your skin."

"Are they poisonous? Why do I have to wear gloves when I touch them?" Harry asked.

Mairi held out her hand for one of Harry's gloves and he gave it to her. As soon as she had it on she stuck her finger out to the nearest green spike hanging on the wall and it sank its teeth into her finger and then let go, hissing and tongue flickering in and out. She took the glove off and handed it back to Harry.

"The pink puffs and Cornish red flames aren't much into biting because they have flames to fight people with. You really don't have to worry about the redflames much. It's the pink puffs that are stubborn and will fight you if you try to move them to another stall or something."

"They're like pigs," Maven said.

"Pigs?"

"Oink oink," Maven said, and rolled her eyes and turned away from Harry, apparently done trying to educate him. Mairi laughed and led Harry back down the ladder.

"All the students have a designated class time to be out here. The younger students all come out in the morning with uncle Hunter for class," she said. "Kids 15-17 come out here during their creatures class period by themselves to take care of their dragons. I get two class periods a day out here because I spend my potions class here too gathering useful ingredients. That's what we're going to do when you come to visit."

She led Harry into the stall of a sleeping pink puff and began pulling the deep piles of hay aside until she got down to the dirt floor of the stall. "Pull the hay back and kind of shake it out as you go, and you should find dragon scales." She rooted around in the hay for another moment and came up with a pink pink puff scale almost the size of a bronze knut. "Here we go." She dropped it into Harry's hand so he could examine it.

"Do you know what that's used for?"

He shook his head.

"Pink puff scales are used in strengthening potions. We grind them up into powder. You've learned about the different types of strengthening potions already haven't you?"

Harry nodded. There were ones fit for human consumption that gave temporary strength, and other potions that items could be coated with or infused with. He wondered briefly if the blood quill had been dipped in a strengthening potion.

"We're the only ones that have a consistent supply of them," she said, "so we make decent money selling them or the powder. Uncle Hunter said you can keep half of what you find while you're here."

"Thanks," Harry said.

She pointed to a tin cup hanging on a nail high up in the stall and said, "Put the scales and any claws or teeth you find in there." There was a tin cup painted white next to it on another nail and she said, "Any dragon fur you find goes in there. We can't use the fur in potions, but two ladies in town run a business sewing dragon fur into expensive gloves and other items of clothing."

They spent the rest of the time Harry had that day checking all of the pink puff stalls and sorting out what they found into the tin cups in each stall. When they were done Mairi pulled out a pouch and into it she put four pink puff scales. "These are yours. That's my pouch, bring it back when you come again in a couple days."

Harry took the little leather pouch and thanked her for it. "I have permission to walk you back today, but next time you come you'll walk on your own."

Harry got back to the castle just in time to finish the last ten minutes of lunch. His friends were all interested to hear about what West Ire was like and what Harry had done that day, though he couldn't tell them all of it because he was trying hard to scarf down a sandwich and a glass of pumpkin juice before his next class.

"Hagrid would love it there," Harry told them on their way to class. "I didn't get to work with the other dragons, but the pink puffs were pretty cool. They mostly slept and ignored me. Mairi said the pink puffs are nocturnal and are usually awake in the evening and at night. She said last week two of them escaped their stalls and went on an adventure into the village late at night and knocked over a bunch of garbage bins and spread the trash around. Maven said they're like pigs."

"Maven?"

"I don't know anything about her," Harry said. "She was there in the stable up in the loft while I was downstairs with Mairi."

"What was it like being there with only girls though?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "Aside from stepping into a potions class with five girls for a minute, I really only saw Mairi and Maven."

"I wonder why they separate them out like that," Ron said. "Then they have to have teachers for two different schools. I didn't think the coven was that big."

"I think about 30 families live there. Mairi said her uncle teaches potions and creatures class at both schools. I guess the teachers travel back and forth. The boy's school is just on the next little island. There's a bridge from the island the village is on across a little strip of water and rocks to the island the boys school is on." Harry didn't think he'd get to visit the boy's school, but had gotten a glimpse of it off in the distance on his way back to the village with Mairi.

He wished he was going back the next day, but he was only allowed to go on days when he had Potions class, which was every other day. On Wednesday he used the Headmaster's floo to go back to the coven on Skaw, and helped Mairi gather a few scales from the cornish redflames for an hour, which didn't drop scales as often as the pink puffs. After an hour, master Hunter came into the stable to collect them, and led them into the potions classroom, which was now empty.

"I know you haven't had a chance to gather anything from the green spikes yet," he told Harry as he led him to a workbench, "but I wanted to go over how we process the ingredients we gather in the stables. The next time you come we'll be brewing some potions as well."

They spent almost two hours grinding pink puff scales, preserving some pink puff scales whole, soaking cornish redflame scales in a potion to soften them, and talking about how to preserve dragon teeth and claws of any kind. Before Harry left master Hunter handed him a little book and said, "That's for you. That's the textbook used here for raising the three types of dragons we work with. What I want you to read up on for the next time you come back is the last few chapters. They cover potions and other magical uses of the ingredients you've been gathering. I won't give you a written test or anything, but I need you to know what's in there before we do any brewing."

"I will test you on it," Mairi told him, and Harry gave a nod and thanked them. When he got back to the castle, he didn't have time for lunch, but was thankful that Ron had snagged an apple for him from the Great Hall.

* * *

Harry had been back to Skaw six more times, and had been through the three chapters at the end of the dragon care book more times than he could remember. Mairi had been serious about testing him on what was there, and every time he got a question wrong, she demanded he go back and read whatever chapter that information had been in again. Despite that this book was only about three dragons and the potions their scales, claws, teeth, and poop could be used in, there was a lot of information to take in. The last chapter of the textbook had recipes for every potion known that used ingredients from these dragons, including ones far far beyond Harry's skill level. He had asked master Snape about some of them, and was informed that while he could brew them all, he had no desire to brew most of them.

"There are others that specialize in these types of potions, master Hunter and Mairi being two of those people. A certain amount of care must be taken in not only gathering those particular ingredients, but also in brewing the potions." Snape pointed down at the last potion in the book and said, "This one takes two full years to brew and also requires dragon heartstring from a dragon that is willing to give its life for the drinker of the potion."

"Yeah, that could be a real problem," Harry said.

"Dragon blood, scales, claws, and other ingredients are almost never sold at an apothecary, not only because the price is so high for these items, but because most potions masters do not have the desire to brew these types of potions."

"Where does Soren sell the ingredients he gets from dragons then?" Harry asked.

"Most likely to master Hunter or other potions masters that do brew these potions."

Harry nodded. He'd once thought Snape could brew any potion. While he guessed that Snape could, he'd been interested to learn just how specialized each potions master was within their field of study.

"On Monday you won't be returning to Skaw," Severus said. "You'll be going to Alyth to work with master Eadmond and Isaac."

Harry fidgeted for a moment. He'd been nervous about having to work with them. He supposed he liked Isaac all right, but Isaac had said master Eadmond was strict, and master Snape had indicated that he had to be on his toes and not say the wrong thing around her.

"You have nothing to be worried about."

Harry looked up at master Snape. He must have been watching him. "I'm not," he said, though it was a lie.

"You do not have to go," Snape said, surprising him a moment later. "However, it would be in your best interest to do so. The techniques you could learn from her would serve you well in your second two years or last two years of your apprenticeship. Those techniques take discipline, so she will expect you to pay attention and follow directions exactly. That discipline would also serve you well during your first set of apprentice exams."

"I'm going," Harry said.

Snape murmured in satisfaction and turned back to the potion he was brewing at his own workbench. They had been working all morning in his private potions lab since it was Sunday. While Snape brewed Harry had been asking him questions, and preparing the freshest batch of his mushrooms to be stored. He'd offered to do it with Neville, but Neville had no interest in doing anything with the mushrooms after they'd been grown. His primary focus was growing the most perfect mushrooms he could and then passing them off to Harry to prepare and use in potions. Neville had begun growing several different varieties of his own on the workbench he'd been given next to Harry's.

As Harry set to drying out a huge box of mushrooms, laying them out in lines on a drying rack over a small flame across his workbench, he bit his lip and fretted over a question he'd been wanting to ask master Snape for the last two weeks. He was sure the man would say no, but he really wanted him to say yes. He'd gone over at least five different ways to ask him in his head, but wasn't sure which, if any, would get the answer he wanted.

"Sir?"

"Hm," Snape murmured to indicate he was listening.

"I told Mairi about my mushroom project. Since they've had me there for a couple weeks already, we were wondering if she could come here... just for a day I mean, to see what I've been working on."

"Has her master agreed to this?"

"He said she hasn't had a chance to explore any other specialities in potions yet and thought it would be a good idea, if it's ok with you I mean."

"I will have to get it approved by the Headmaster." Harry smiled to himself. He didn't think it would be that easy to get master Snape to say yes. His smile faltered a little when Snape said, "However-" and paused for long moments. "As impressive as your personal project in the greenhouse is, it would not be a real look into mushroom gathering if she does not also learn to prepare and store the ingredients, or to forage for them herself. It would be better if she came on weekends so we could go and forage and then prepare ingredients."

"Really?" Harry asked excitedly.

"There are a wide variety of mushrooms in the Forbidden Forest that I have not had a chance to go out and search for this year. If I get approval from the Headmaster, I will speak to master Hunter to see what he has to say on the matter."

Like on Christmas when he learned that he'd be spending Christmas with the Weasleys, Harry was overwhelmed briefly with the urge to hug Snape again. As the man still had his back to him and was adding ingredients into the potion he was brewing, Harry didn't think he'd appreciate a hug just then, or ever.

He turned back to his mushrooms and smiled to himself again. This conversation had gone far better than he had expected it to.

* * *

As nervous as he was to go to Alyth to work with master Eadmond and Isaac, Harry was glad he had decided to go. He used the floo from the Headmaster's office again and appeared in a large house on a farm in Alyth. Master Eadmond and Isaac were sitting in the living room having tea while they waited for him.

"Erm, I hope I'm not late," Harry said, feeling anxiety creep over him as he stared at these two people he didn't really know at all.

"Not at all," master Eadmond said. "Have a seat Mr. Potter. It wouldn't be proper to have you without lunch first. We cannot brew on an empty stomach."

Harry looked to Isaac to see what he thought about this, and noted that Isaac didn't have his hair down in his face today. He was dressed as proper as master Eadmond was, and though Harry was in his school uniform, he felt completely underdressed for the situation.

"Ok, thank you," he said. He took a seat next to Isaac as Master Eadmond poured him a cup of tea. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun, tighter perhaps than professor McGonagall's usually was, which Harry hadn't realized was possible. He accepted the cup of tea from her and then a sandwich from Isaac.

"In order to focus on brewing, it's important that all of your needs are met before you begin to brew," she said. "Food, sleep, use of the lavatory. If your basic needs aren't met first, you won't be able to focus on the precise steps we'll be following. Tell me Mr. Potter, did you get a good night's sleep?"

Harry swallowed the bite of his sandwich and said, "Yes maam."

"The other boys in your dormitory did not keep you up late?" she asked.

"I have apprentice quarters," he said.

"And no roommates at all?"

"I- didn't realize I could have roommates in apprentice quarters."

"You could if there were other male apprentices in your house," Isaac said. The way he spoke was so proper compared to how he'd talked at the bonfire on Christmas Eve that Harry turned and stared at him for a moment before closing his mouth and turning back to master Eadmond.

"I don't have any roommates," he told her.

"Very well."

She asked him a few other polite questions as they ate, such as how he was liking his apprenticeship, what he'd been doing with master Hunter on Skaw, and if he had any inclination yet as to what kind of speciality he wanted to pursue.

"I like foraging for ingredients," Harry said. He didn't really think that was a speciality, but he wished it were. He told her and Isaac briefly of his mushroom project now located in the greenhouses, and what all that had entailed when master Eadmond asked him questions about it. She seemed neither impressed or unimpressed, and when he was done telling them about it, she stood up and told Harry and Isaac to follow her into the lab.

She led them through the house and into a room that was well lit with large windows overlooking the foggy fields the house sat in. It was bigger than Snape's private lab but not by too much. There were workbenches set up along three walls, and the wall with the door had floor to ceiling apothecary shelves filled with ingredients, tools, and books.

Isaac handed Harry a white work apron that went over his head and covered his clothes, and then told Harry to roll up his sleeves. Harry wasn't used to wearing an apron, but Isaac and master Eadmond were both wearing them so he didn't complain.

"Has Severus gone over the Mélange Triplet technique with you?"

"No maam."

"There are a great many potions that require you to stir constantly and consistently for up to an hour. This is not only tedious but time consuming. Some of the more advanced potions that require this will also require you, or an assistant, to add ingredients in while you continue stirring, making it difficult for a potioneer to make these potions by his or herself. The Mélange Triplet stirring method will satisfy the potion's need to be constantly stirred without you having to stir for the duration of the brewing."

She filled a cauldron with water and beckoned Harry over as she pulled out a silver stirring rod. "This is how one would stir consistently, in say, a Felix Felicis potion." She demonstrated constant stirring at a steady pace. "And this," she said, "is how one would use Mélange Triplet. Three quick stirs with a hard swish at the end of each, and then a break of exactly three seconds before starting again." She demonstrated, bringing the stirring rod around in a circle, finishing the circle at the bottom with a quick hard motion, and then doing so again two more times, counting to three, and then doing it all over again. "If your potion requires one hour of constant stirring, you would do this for twenty minutes. Whatever amount of time the potion requires constant stirring, you do this for a third of that amount of time. This leaves the latter two thirds of your brewing time open to preparing ingredients that must be added later, or for you to start other batches of the same potion."

Harry stared into the cauldron of water, unsure how this worked. The reason you had to stir consistently in some potions for the full duration of the brewing was because the potion would gel or burn if you didn't.

"Ask your questions," she said. "I would much rather you come to a full understanding of the technique before you attempt to brew a potion with this technique."

"How does it work?" Harry asked. "Won't the potion still congeal or burn in the second two thirds of the brewing because it's not being stirred?"

"You didn't see the real technique because she showed you in a cauldron of water," Isaac said. "Once an actual potion is over an open flame the technique causes the potion to continue to stir itself for the remainder of the brewing time. It's like doing a spell without a wand. Because you're putting so much concentration into how you stir when using the Mélange Triplet, you're subconsciously casting a spell on the air in and above the liquid that makes it continue to stir itself."

"That is correct," master Eadmond said. "And because the spell is being cast on the air, it will not interfere with the potion." She handed the stirring rod to Harry and indicated the cauldron of water. "Attempt the Mélange Triplet now on the water. When you have it down we will try to brew a potion."

Harry tried to replicate what she had showed him, but it was harder than it looked. Apparently the timing had to be exact, the swish had to be hard enough to really send the liquid into a spin around the cauldron, and you had to fall into a rhythm. This technique required Harry to hold the stirring rod a different way than he was used to as well, and it was a full hour of Isaac correcting him before master Eadmond thought he was ready to attempt the technique on a potion.

"Instead of brewing a potion that takes a full hour, brewing a potion that only takes ten minutes would be a better use of your time. If you fail to perform the technique correctly, we can simply start again."

She set him to brewing a cold draught that Harry hadn't brewed yet, though the instructions were simple enough. A second or third year probably could have done it. They set a timer for 3.3 minutes, and Harry set to stirring using the new technique. He did well for the first two minutes, but messed up, and the potion had to be vanished and started again. He tried three more times before he was able to make it all the way through the 3.3 minutes of stirring. When the timer went off he pulled his stirring rod out of the potion and watched with curiosity as it continued to stir itself, not in a set of three stirs with a pause at the end, but in a constant stirring motion just as the original recipe called for.

"Good," master Eadmond said. "While this is brewing for the next 6.6 minutes, start another cauldron and do it again. When you can get five cauldrons brewing at once without a mistake, we will call the technique mastered and move on to the next."

Harry didn't get through five cauldrons by the time he had to take the floo back to the Headmaster's office, but master Eadmond didn't seem disappointed in him. It would take Harry another four trips to Alyth before he had it mastered, and while it wasn't the same as visiting Mairi at West Ire, he couldn't say he hadn't enjoyed it. These trips got him out of the castle, and he found almost everything he learned interesting.

* * *

Harry was surprised to find that master Snape hadn't just invited Mairi, but also Isaac to the castle to see Harry's mushroom project, followed by an hour in Snape's private lab preparing mushrooms from the greenhouse.

Master Hunter had apparated Mairi directly to the edge of school grounds at the gates, and Isaac had floo'd into Hogsmead and walked up the drive to the Hogwarts gates, where he met Harry and Mairi. Harry had been given permission to meet them and walk them back up to the castle through the chilly fog one Saturday morning.

"Are we working with Master Snape today?" Mairi asked as they walked up to the castle.

"Yeah, but not until later. He's supervising Saturday potions lab right now."

"You have school on Saturdays?" she asked.

"No, but the upper years can attend an optional potions lab for two hours on Saturdays to practice potions they've been having trouble with or need to work on for OWLs. Do people at your school take OWLs and NEWTs?"

"We do," she said.

Isaac was quiet as they walked.

"Are we going to work inside the castle at all?" Mairi asked.

"We'll be in the greenhouses outside first, and then in the dungeons in master Snape's private lab. We have permission to eat lunch in the Great Hall later too. I'd show you around, but I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Isaac asked. He didn't need showing around since he'd graduated Hogwarts, but he was curious.

"There's this new Professor... actually she's from the Ministry. She's not very happy that the Headmaster gave us permission to have you two today. She's always trying to get me into trouble." Harry wasn't so worried about getting in trouble as much as he was about Umbridge being rude to their guests.

He led them to the greenhouses which weren't far from the castle, and explained each of the greenhouses and what they were for, before taking them into greenhouse five. "This one's off limits to most students," he said, "because it has teacher projects in it."

It was only a moment before Neville popped his head out from around a huge shelf covered in sprawling viny plants though.

"This is a professor?" Mairi asked.

"This is my friend Neville," Harry said with a laugh. "He's one of the four students allowed to be in here."

"Hi," Neville said, holding his hand out to Mairi and then to Isaac to shake. "Harry said he was bringing you down to harvest mushrooms so I figured I'd be here since you'll be harvesting some of mine too."

"Neville, this is Mairi and Isaac. Mairi is 17, Isaac is 19. She's a third year apprentice and he's a second year apprentice."

Harry and Neville led them down the side of the greenhouse to their workbenches. Neville had found or built shelves on top of and under his workbench, and now had almost a dozen varieties of common mushrooms he'd found on the grounds growing on the shelves. Harry's workbench looked much the same as his mushroom den had, with stations set up to grow shaggy inkcap, red elf cap and wood ear.

"Neville doesn't want any of the mushrooms from his station that we're harvesting today, so you'll each get to keep half of today's harvest, and the same from my workstation. Master Snape has a workbench in the back of the greenhouse," Harry indicated towards the back of the large warm greenhouse, "and he gave us permission to harvest a few of his mushrooms as well."

Harry quickly explained how to harvest each mushroom, and then went over the few types on his workbench and what each were used for. Neville went over the many mushrooms he was growing as well as his attempts to hybridize several, though he didn't know what potions they were used in, so Harry went over that.

As Mairi and Isaac harvested, clipping mushroom fruits off of the bunch at the base, Harry supervised and asked them each questions about what they were harvesting, trying to help them retain the information like Soren and Rand had once done for him while harvesting aconitum.

They kept the harvested mushrooms separated in different collecting baskets, and in the case of the shaggy inkcap, in a large jar so that when it liquified it wouldn't make a mess. It was a full hour before they moved to the back of the greenhouse to the large section Snape was using to grow a wide variety of ingredients. Master Snape had brought Harry out here the evening before to show him what he was growing and which mushrooms he wanted Harry to harvest.

"Are you an apprentice too?" Mairi asked Neville as he sat on a stool at Snape's workstation and watched them harvest.

"Me? Oh no," Neville said with a laugh. "Harry's been trying to convince me but I prefer to work in a greenhouse. I'm going to have a farm one day and grow all sorts of ingredients. Maybe Harry and I can start our own business. I'll grow things and he can brew with them."

"Actually," Harry said, "I kind of like the growing and harvesting part myself. If we start a business Neville we'll need to get Ron in and have him run the shopfront of an apothecary, that way we can stay on the farm." He laughed, but he didn't really find the thought funny. It was an appealing idea, being able to have a plot of land somewhere with a big greenhouse just like this one, a patch of woods to forage in, and maybe a potions lab.

"And Ginny too?" Neville asked with a grin, but Harry ignored him.

"Mr. Weasley would need a mastery to run an apothecary," came master Snape's voice from behind them. They stopped what they were doing and Harry looked up, feeling guilty though he didn't know why.

"This is master Snape," Harry said to introduce he and Mairi. "Are we running late?"

"The Saturday lab has just finished. Continue with the harvest."

Master Snape shook Isaac's hand, and then Mairi's. He asked how Isaac was liking his first two years of apprenticeship and if he was ready for the apprentice exams that were coming up in just a few months. Because Isaac was in his second year, he was facing his first set of exams soon. Harry was glad he still had another year to go before he took his.

"I'm ready," Isaac said.

As they finished up their work, the standard questions seemed to go around, and Harry was pleased that for once he wasn't on the receiving end of them. Snape asked Mairi and Isaac both if they had figured out what they wanted to specialize in yet, if they were planing on sticking with their current masters or changing to new ones after their exams, and other questions that Harry had been asked whenever he met new potions masters.

Isaac it turned out, wanted to go into a more dangerous line of potions like Soren, and was looking to change to a new potions master after his exams, though he was quick to say that he was glad he'd done his first two years with master Eadmond. Mairi, unsurprisingly, was going to stick with her uncle. She was finishing up her last year of school at West Ire and was looking forward to being able to travel more and do more things like visiting other potions masters to learn what they had to teach.

When they were done harvesting mushrooms in the greenhouse, and were walking back to the castle Harry was surprised when master Snape invited Neville to come to his private lab to see what was being done with his mushrooms.

Harry had a feeling Neville would have declined, but because Mairi and Isaac were there and it wasn't just going to be Snape and Harry, Neville accepted.

Harry set them all up drying mushrooms, crushing others into a paste, and processing the shaggy inkcap, and once everyone (including Neville) was working, Snape began to ask questions about what potions each of the mushrooms were used in.

Mairi and Isaac took turns answering, and twice when they couldn't remember the answers, Neville spoke up and answered for them. "Don't give me that look," Neville whispered to Harry when he caught his friend grinning at him. "I spent enough time in the mushroom den listening to you go on about potions that I had time to memorize the list."

"Ya know, if you got an apprenticeship of some kind before we graduated, you and I could be roomates in the apprentice quarters."

"What?"

"Yeah, I didn't know that either. I guess there's one room next to each house."

"There are two," master Snape said, leaning back against the workbench next to them. Harry and Neville had finished what they were doing and were watching Mairi and Isaac talk as they worked next to each other across the little lab at their own workbench.

"Sir?" Harry asked.

"There are two apprentice rooms near each house, one for boys, another for girls. If there are only two boy apprentices, or only two girl apprentices, they can each have their own quarters, though some choose to room together. It has been a long time since there have been enough apprentices attending school at once to warrant roommates. It was more common fifty years ago than it is today. Even so, there are enough apprentice rooms spread throughout the castle that even if Gryffindor had several apprentices, they could all have their own rooms if they wanted to."

"I didn't realize," Harry said.

"Apprentices were once the only Prefects. As apprentices became fewer, Prefect positions began going to regular students who had shown merit."

"Did that mean apprentices were Head Boy and Head Girl then?" Harry asked. "I thought they couldn't be if they became Prefects by being an apprentice."

"The rules changed as fewer apprentices were attending Hogwarts. As the Head Boy and Head Girl have extra duties, it became less common to award those positions to apprentices, as apprentices have extra studying and tasks they must complete on top of their own schoolwork. The last Head Boy that was an apprentice was the Headmaster."

"Professor Dumbledore was an apprentice?" Neville asked.

"He was," Severus said. "There was a mage teaching Transfiguration during his time at school. He did a four year apprenticeship to him for magery... wandless magic," he clarified after a moment.

By the time they were done, Mairi and Isaac both had almost a dozen jars of ingredients to take home with them, and Snape had also given them both a copy of the little fungus guidebook he'd once given to Harry to memorize. "In the spring we will meet again to gather mushrooms together off of school grounds. I advise you to memorize this guidebook before that time." He didn't give a copy to Neville, and Neville looked sad.

"You can look at my copy," Harry said. "You won't be able to come out with us though since you're not an apprentice."

"I don't need to be," Neville said brightly, though for the first time since Harry had brought it up earlier that school year, he thought Neville looked like he might want to be one.

The day of the practice potions OWL dawned chilly and gray. Normally Harry wouldn’t attend Potions class and would be out with Master Eadmond and Issac or Master Hunter and Mairi, but this was one day he couldn’t miss.

Ron grumbled the entire morning about having to go and sit an OWL early, especially because his effort wouldn’t count towards anything.

“It will though Ronald,” Hermione said in an exasperated tone. “This will show you what you have down and what you still need to study.”

“I have to study all of it,” Ron said. “I don’t have any of it down.”

Harry smirked at both of them as they made their way down to the dungeons. Others were also complaining as they made their way to class, including some of the Slytherins. Despite that it wasn’t the real potions OWL, there was a buzz of nervousness in the corridor and then in the classroom as they filtered in and took their seats.

“Harry, here,” Snape said, pointing to a student desk that had been set up front near the teacher’s desk.

“Why do you have to sit up there?” Ron asked Harry as they separated and went to different parts of the classroom.

“Having Potter up front ensures no one will accidentally see his test and copy from it,” Snape said, not looking up at Ron. Ron shot him a dirty look and took his seat, Harry’s usual seat empty beside him.

Once everyone was seated, Snape gave instructions to answer questions they knew and skip questions they didn’t know the answer to, and not to guess, and then passed out the tests. Harry picked up his thick packet of papers and as soon as the timer started, set to work answering everything he thought he knew for certain.

He flew through twenty questions about the 12 classes of healing potions, a full page about preparing and storing potions ingredients, and page upon page of questions about various ingredients and their properties. There were several essay questions he raced to answer, not sure he’d have time to get through the entire test in the hour and a half they’d been allotted. He felt bad for Ron and anyone else who had yet to study for their Potions OWL, because even Harry was finding some of the questions difficult.

There were at least 20 questions he hadn’t studied for at all, and his mind scrambled to find an appropriate answer given what he knew. He knew Master Snape didn’t want them to guess, but he was also under a lot of pressure to get as high of a score on the practice test as possible. If he didn’t get a high enough score, Master Snape might not let him go work with other apprentices during potions class anymore.

It wasn’t until he glanced up at the clock and realized he only had 10 minutes left but several pages to get through when he flipped a page and realized that he wasn’t taking a standard OWL practice test. He couldn’t be, because he was staring down at a page of questions on laws regarding potions use, storage, transportation and sale. Snape had beefed Harry’s test up with questions from his apprentice books.

He glanced at the clock again. Only nine minutes left. His pencil started circling answers again. He didn’t think he’d got all of the apprentice questions about law right, or about classes of potions on the last two pages, but he finished with one minute to spare, and slapped his pencil down on top of his completed test. He noted that at least half of the class was still struggling through their practice test when the timer ran out.

“Ensure your name is on your test. If I do not have a test with your name on it when I grade it, you will be taking the practice exam again,” Snape said. Goyle and Parvati scrambled to put their names on their tests as the class handed their tests in.

When Harry handed his in as his classmates were heading out the door for lunch, he said, “Mine wasn’t the practice OWL was it?”

“It was.”

“But it was more than that.”

“You appear to have finished it within the allotted time in any case.”

“Will I still be able to go work with Mairi and Isaac even if I didn’t do well on the apprentice questions?”

“We shall see. Return to my office after dinner and I will have your test graded for you.”

“Yes sir.”

Snape didn’t go to lunch, and Harry wondered if he’d skip dinner too to grade the practice OWLs.

“Well?” Hermione asked Ron as Harry made it into the hallway so they could walk to lunch together.

“Well what?”

“How did you do?”

Ron shrugged. “Who cares?”

“Ronald,” Hermione sounded affronted.

“Look, I’m going to study how and when I feel like studying, and no one’s going to pressure me into it.”

Hermione heaved a sigh but didn’t argue with him about it any more.

Later that evening when Harry went to Snape’s office to collect his test results, he was surprised when Snape handed him two stacks of graded tests, one that belonged to the Gryffindors, and one that belonged to the Slytherins.

“When you leave, take these to the Slytherin and Gryffindor common rooms. I would suggest giving the Slytherin tests to Draco or Pansy so they can hand them out. Inform them as well as the Gryffindors that there will be a review in class on Wednesday, and that all students should study and come prepared to answer questions on the test that they got wrong.”

“Er… do I just knock on the wall that leads into the Slytherin common room?”

“You have the password, do you not?”

“I do-” Harry really didn’t think the Slytherins would appreciate him barging into their common room, even on an errand from a professor.

“You are a Prefect now. So long as you do not step more than a few feet beyond the entrance to the common room, you will be fine, especially as you are on an errand. Now,” Snape held up Harry’s thick test packet and said, “You passed your OWL practice exam. You missed three questions, which I will expect you to have the answers to memorized by tomorrow morning. As for the Apprentice portion of the exam, you missed 7 out of 40 questions. I will expect you to have the answers of those missed questions memorized by the end of the week.”

Harry thought that missing only 10 out of hundreds of questions was pretty good. “So I can still go work with other apprentices?”

“You may, however, it will no longer be something you do three times a week.” When Harry’s shoulders fell, Severus said, “You are not in trouble Potter. Mairi’s uncle will be taking her out of the country for the next few weeks, and I need you in class more often.”

“Yes sir.”

“Be in class Wednesday.”

“Yes sir. Thanks. I’ll just go… deliver these.”

Harry backed out of the office. He paused in the hallway and put the Gryffindor stack of tests in his backpack along with his own, and then carried the Slytherin fifth year tests down the hall and around the corner to the Slytherin common room. He really didn’t want to do this. The last thing he needed was to start something up with Draco, or have someone complain to Umbridge about him.

“Quidditch cup,” Harry said aloud to the bare patch of wall, and it slid open to reveal the Slytherin common room. He didn’t step over the threshold though. Instead his eyes scanned the room for Draco or Pansy. He couldn’t see them. His eyes fell on a first year Slytherin who was staring at him though.

“Hey, can you get Draco or Pansy? I have something Professor Snape wants me to give them.”

The boy gave a solemn nod, eyes watching Harry like he was a wild animal about to strike, and then he moved off down what Harry could only assume was the hall to the boys dorms. A minute (and several curious and wary looks from Slytherins later), Draco came out of the dorm hall and strode straight over to the entrance and to Harry.

Harry wasted no time in handing the stack of tests to Draco. “The graded OWL practice tests from today,” Harry said. “Professor Snape asked me to deliver them to you to hand out to the rest of the Slytherins. He said there’s going to be a review on Wednesday, and everyone should study and come ready to answer the questions they missed on their exam.”

Draco accepted the stack of tests, but he didn’t move off or say anything for long moments. His eyes just watched Harry like he was trying to work something out. “With authority, Potter.”

“What?”

“A teacher sent you on an errand because you’re a Prefect, or an Apprentice. When you come to our common room, you’re supposed to do it with authority. You look like you’re sneaking into the enemy’s lair or something.”

“Uh… ok.”

“The next time you come, step inside and hold your shoulders back. You’re giving Prefects a bad name acting like you’re unsure of yourself.”

“Right.” Harry wanted to point out that he’d only been made a Prefect in December, but didn’t. Draco pulled his own shoulders back, as if to demonstrate, and Harry sighed and stood up straight.

“Better,” Draco said. “Act like a Prefect and people will treat you like one.” Draco turned without another word and Harry took that as being dismissed. Harry walked away and the wall entrance to Slytherin slid shut behind him. That had been so… unexpected. Granted, it had been a couple years since Harry and Draco had really fought or argued, but Harry hadn’t expected Draco to be cordial with him, or to give him advice. He thought about it all the way up through the castle to Gryffindor common room.

Once he was inside Gryffindor, he tracked down all the fifth years himself and gave them their tests back, relaying the message Snape had given him as he went. With authority, played through his head in Draco’s voice again and again as he handed the tests out. If Harry held himself a little taller while he handed the graded tests out, Draco didn’t need to know.

* * *

Harry didn’t know how he came to find himself standing alone in front of the fifth year OWL potions class Wednesday, but there he was. He’d come into class with Ron and Hermione like normal, but he’d barely made it inside when Snape handed him a sheet of parchment and told Harry to take over the review for the day. He’d said something about an emergency he needed to take care of, but not what that emergency was. Now Harry was standing there by Snape’s desk in front of the blackboard as the rest of the class filtered in and sat down.

When Neville finally hurried in and took his seat, Harry shut the classroom door and turned to find the entire class watching him, even Ron and Hermione. Some were giving him curious looks, others, mostly on the Slytherin side, looked irritated or wary.

“Master Snape had an emergency to take care of. He wanted me to lead the review.” Harry’s voice was quiet and unsure. He hated how he sounded even in his own ears. He caught sight of Draco, who was glaring at him. The blond boy tilted his chin up as if daring Harry to do something, and then pulled his own shoulders back. With authority. Right.

Harry cleared his throat and made sure he was standing straight and tall. “I have the list of concepts he wants us to cover.” He frowned down at the list. How would Snape do this? He’d lecture. Harry didn’t want to lecture though. His mind flitted to gathering aconite as Soren and Leighton taught him facts. That had been a lot more fun.

Harry strode to the Gryffindor side of the room and plopped the paper on the desk in front of Seamus. “Seamus, pick a topic.”

Seamus tilted his head at him a little, but decided to play along, which Harry was grateful for. All it would take was one student to resist, and Harry would lose what little control he’d been granted by Snape over the class.

Seamus pointed down at the paper at the 12 classes of healing potions and Harry said out loud, “Classes of healing potions.” He went back to the front of the room and asked, “Is there someone who has good handwriting that wants to write on the board?”

Hermione’s hand went up, but he didn’t want to make the Slytherins think he was playing favorites with the Gryffindors, because that would only cause trouble. Teddy’s hand was in the air too, so he said, “Teddy. Will you write down the 12 classes as they come up with them?”

Teddy nodded, and went to the blackboard. He picked up a piece of chalk and then waited.

“Hands up if you know,” Harry said. “What’s the first class of healing potion?”

Most of the hands went up in the air, but not all of them. Harry called on Pansy, and she said with a bored tone, “Exterior.”

“Great, yeah, that’s it.” He turned to Teddy, but Teddy had already written '1 - Exterior.'

“2nd class,” Harry said, and hands went up. He called on Ron. “Blood restorative,” Ron said. Teddy wrote it down and Harry moved on to the next one.

“3rd class?”

He called on Crabbe this time, who said, “Core replenishing.”

It all went smoother than Harry thought it would, and before long they had the 12 classes of healing potions listed up on the board. Harry pointed at the board and said, “Someone tell me a fact about exterior healing potions.”

He called on Hermione because he hadn’t yet and she looked like she was going to burst if he didn’t, and she said, “Exterior potions are almost always topical creams.”

“Right. Someone give me two examples of exterior cream-like healing potions.”

“Bruise balm and burn lotion,” Draco said when Harry pointed at him.

“Yup. And what about the exterior potions that aren’t a cream?” Harry asked. “Someone tell me about those.”

He turned and pointed at Teddy, because he had his hand up with the piece of chalk in it, and Teddy said, “Non cream-like exterior healing potions are potions where the injured body part needs to be soaked in it, like Essence of Murtlap.”

“That’s right,” Harry said. “There’s another thing about the liquid exterior healing potions. Does anyone know?” No hands went up, so Harry said, “The liquid exterior healing potions are usually more about single ingredients liquified in water, or oils from single or double ingredients rather than an actual potion. Essence of Murtlap for instance is just Murtlap in water. Sometimes you’ll find witch hazel or aloe mixed into it.”

They moved on to the second class of healing potion, Harry asking questions and calling on students that hadn’t participated much yet, and then onto the third class of healing potions. Once they made it through all 12, he pointed at the list again and said, “Everyone put your hands up.”

The class looked doubtful but everyone did as they were told. He pointed at Neville and said, “You have 2 minutes. Teach us everything you know about class one healing potions.”

Neville gave Harry a frown, which almost made him laugh, because Nevill almost never frowned at Harry or looked irritated with him like he did now. Neville spent almost the entire two minutes telling the class about class one healing potions though, and Harry thought his friend had covered every single aspect they’d gone over.

“Ok, erase class one Teddy,” Harry said. He turned back to the class. “Neville, keep your hand down this time. Everyone else, hands up. Class 2,” Harry said, “2 minutes Goyle, go.”

It took them forty minutes of the two hour double potions class to get through the 12 classes of healing potions, but Harry felt like they all had a firm grasp on the concepts. When someone missed something, Harry asked for volunteers to fill in the missing gaps, or did it himself if the class couldn’t. He expected that Snape would have been back by then, but he wasn’t, so he took the sheet of parchment with the concept list down to the Slytherin side of the room and set it in front of Draco. “Pick a topic.”

Draco picked the preparation of fresh ingredients, and Harry set Teddy to writing down the classes answers again. Harry gave them information, asked questions, and then had students teach the concepts back to the class. By the time class was over, they’d made it through four concepts on Snape’s list.

“I think we’re doing another review Friday,” Harry said.

“Are you doing it?” Crabbe asked. Harry was surprised the boy didn’t look sullen like he often did.

“I dunno,” Harry said. “I was just doing it today because Professor Snape had something to do.”

Crabbe grunted and left the room.

Harry looked for a quill and then put a checkmark next to the four topics they’d covered. Ron, Hermione, and Neville waited for him to be finished and they left the room together. “Did I uh… did I do ok?” Harry asked.

“Actually, that was the most fun I’ve had in potions ever,” Ron said.

“But, do you have the concepts down?” Harry pressed.

“I do,” Hermione said.

“Me too,” Neville chimed.

All of them looked at Ron. “Yeah,” he said.

“Why did you teach it like that?” Hermione asked.

“That’s how they do it in the potions community.”

“What do you mean?” she asked him.

“Well, this summer for instance. I spent all day out in a foggy bog with two other apprentices that were further along in their apprenticeships than me. We were collecting aconite. As we gathered, they took turns teaching it to me, and then asking me questions about it. Then they had me teach it back to them. Then we prepared the aconite for storage, and the masters asked me questions about it. Then when I went to the apothecary the next day to sell what we’d harvested and prepared, the apothecary asked me questions about it and had me teach him what I knew.”


“That- doesn’t sound that bad,” Neville said.

Harry shrugged. “It’s kind of fun actually. You pick up the information quickly. It’s not normal for other apprentices to ask you questions, but any potions Master you come across will see it as their duty to make sure you’re learning what you’re supposed to, so they’ll quiz you and help you get the right information down. At least until you’re in your fifth and sixth year of apprenticeship. Then I heard it’s all on you to study yourself.”

“No wonder you’re so good at potions now,” Ron said.

“Well, there’s still lots of studying out of the apprentice books too. When you guys took the practice OWL earlier this week, I took that plus a test with questions from my apprentice texts.”

“What?” Hermione asked, stunned.

“Yeah. I almost didn’t make it all the way through my test.”

“How did you do?”

“Three wrong on the OWL, seven wrong on the apprentice portion.”

He stopped walking when he realized his friends weren't with him. He turned back and found them all staring at him a few feet back. “What?”

“Mate, I didn’t even answer all the questions on the practice OWL and I barely finished. You had to answer even more questions on top of that?”

Harry grinned at Ron. “Yeah. The essay questions are what slowed me down. Those took time.”

“You had essay questions?” Hermione asked.

Harry frowned. Those had been in the middle of the test… he had been sure those were part of the practice OWL as well.

“I’ll show you my exam if you want.” He turned and pointed behind him towards the Great Hall. “In the meantime, can we eat? I’m starving.”

* * *

Snape almost never came to Harry’s quarters, but he did that evening. As soon as Harry let him in, he came inside and sat down on the couch by the fire. Harry took the comfortable chair.

“How did the review go?”

“We got through four concepts.”

“Only four? It was a two hour class.”

“Sorry,” Harry said.

“I only planned for two review days. At this rate it will take at least four.” Harry had felt like it had been a good day, but now he wasn’t so sure. That was until Snape surprised him with, “Pick up the pace a little on Friday.”

“Sir?”

“I have an unavoidable task I must complete on Friday during the time your class is scheduled. You will be leading the review again. Ideally you will take the class through 10 topics.”

“Oh… ok.”

“You object?”

“No.”

“So the class behaved?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Umbridge is throwing a fit that I let you take the class at all.”

“She is? How does she know?”

“At any point if a student takes over the class, or if a substitute must be acquired, it must first be approved by the Headmaster. He enquired at dinner about how it went today with you leading class. As it was only a review and there was no brewing involved, it was allowed.”

“Are we- in trouble then?”

“No, and I would appreciate it if you would lead the review on Friday as well.”

“But faster this time,” Harry said for confirmation.

“That would be ideal, yes.”

Harry was going to ask him what he had to do on Friday, but Snape pulled out a roll of parchment and started going over the questions Harry had missed on his practice exam. Harry answered questions for half an hour, followed by a short lesson Snape wanted to give him from chapter 12 of his ingredients apprentice text, and then Snape left him to his studies for the evening.

It was almost curfew when Harry had an idea and leapt off his couch to race off to the common room. He needed to ask around and see if anyone had bells he could borrow.

* * *

Harry didn’t know where Fred and George had come up with two dinging bells that sat on a table top, but they had them. They were the kind that would sit on the front counter of a shop that someone would touch the top and they would ‘ding’ to let the shop owner know that assistance was needed.

As soon as he got into the potions classroom with Ron and Hermione Friday, he had Ron help him push a table from the Gryffindor side right into the center aisle of the classroom. Usually this was left open for walking and to divide the two sides of the class, but not today. Harry set the two bells in the center of the table a foot apart, and bounced eagerly from foot to foot as his classmates filtered in. As soon as the last one was in, he shut the door and said, “Teddy, would you write Slytherin and Gryffindor on the board?”

Teddy left his bag at his usual spot and went to the board to do what Harry had asked.

“I’m doing the review again today, but Professor Snape says we have to be faster and get through more topics, so I need the Slytherins in one line behind that table, and the Gryffindors in another line, all facing the front.”

Once again, the class looked confused, but did as they were asked.

“Thanks Teddy,” Harry said. “Join the back of the line.”

Draco and Ron were at the front of their respective lines, right in front of the table. “Ok, step up into the hot seat,” Harry said. “I’ll ask a question, you ring the bell if you have the answer. First person that rings the bell gets the chance to answer. If you answer right, your house gets a point on the board. Answer wrong, and the person next to you gets a shot to answer for a point. Winning team gets bragging rights."

They still looked confused, though Harry noted that Hermione, Dean and a couple other Muggle born students seemed excited, recognition in their eyes. Harry had set up their review like a game show on the telly.

“Ready?”

Ron nodded and Harry held up the sheet of parchment he had almost a hundred questions scribbled down on. “Fastest way to cancel poison out in a potion?”

Ron and Draco clearly didn’t understand that it was a race, and took their time thinking about the answer. Draco hit the bell first and said, “Add another poison.”

“Correct. Be faster with the bell next time Ron,” Harry advised. “You two go to the back of the line.” He turned and put a mark under the word Slytherin while the next two people in each line shuffled forward. It was Hermione and Pansy.

“This ingredient will cancel out the effects of any poison if-” he didn’t get the chance to finish the question.

Hermione slammed her hand down on the bell and said, “A bezoar will cancel the effects of any poison if swallowed by the person who is poisoned.”

“Right. Now we have a race. Be fast with the bell. Next in the hot seat!”

Parvati and Goyle raced forward looking excited, Goyle’s hand hovering above the bell. “Which class of healing potions does the Ponite potion fall under?”

Goyle’s hand slammed down on the bell and he shouted, “Healing class 7, core diminishing!”

“Point to Slytherin!” Harry shouted. He didn’t care who won, but seeing a competition like this, even one he wasn’t able to take part in excited him and brought out his competitive streak. He turned and chalked up a point under Slytherin and turned back to the group. Neville and Teddy were up. “Bonus question. Winner gets three points for their team.”

A murmur of excitement ran through the two lines. Both boy’s hands hovered over the bell. “Tell me the 5 ingredients of the Ponite potion.”

Both boys hit their bell, but Neville hit his first and listed all five ingredients, then gave Harry an uncertain but hopeful look.

“That’s right! That’s three for Gryffindor!” He turned and chalked the points up on the board.

When planning this review, Harry had wondered if the class would even want to play, or if they’d get tired of the competition halfway through. They all seemed excited to win bragging rights though, and the competition continued at a fast clip. They were on question 89 out of 100 when Severus opened the classroom door to a chorus of cheers, and paused on the threshold, surprised and dismayed by what he found.

“Slytherin pulls ahead by three with the bonus question!” Harry said excitedly. Severus watched as he turned and chalked up three marks on the chalkboard. There seemed to have been some sort of competition under way. Severus was about to speak up and stop it when the two lines of students shuffled forward and Ron and Draco came up to the table placed in the center of the room, hands hovering above two metal shop bells.

“Four classes of potions highly regulated by the Minis-” Both boys hit the bell, but it was clear that Ron had hit it first. “Ron,” Harry said.

“Hallucinogenics, pure poisons, love potions, and death potions.”

“Correct, that’s one for Gryffindor.” Ron and Draco hurried out of the way and to the back of the line and two more students came up. Harry asked this pair to list three potions in the hallucinogenics class of potions, and Neville listed three.

“I can do more,” Neville insisted.

Harry stood up straighter and raised his brows. “You can list more than those three?”

Neville nodded.

Harry turned his attention to Teddy and said, “Can you list more than the three he listed?”

“I can.”

“Point off!” called Ron, though other students from both lines were starting to shout it too.

“We go until a person can’t list anymore. Whoever lasts the longest gets the point.” Harry pointed at Neville and said, “Go.”

“Faic Rudan.”

Harry pointed to Teddy, who said, “Sy Fantazme.”

“Evanescet.”

“Latito.”

It was Neville’s turn again, but he looked like he had run out of potions to list off. “Neville?”

Neville held up a finger, looked like he was running over the list in his head again, and finally smiled and said, “Pereo Oculos.”

“Teddy?”

Teddy shook his head, and Harry said, “Point,” and pointed to the Gryffindor line. He turned and chalked up a point under Gryffindor and excited whispers broke out because the two teams were tied again. It was this moment that Severus chose to step all the way into the room and announce his presence, because none of the students seemed to realize he was there.

“What- is going on here?” he asked carefully.

The excited chatter of the class died immediately, and Harry froze. He had that look he sometimes did when he thought he was about to be struck, and it both unnerved Severus and made him angry on Harry’s behalf.

“Just- doing review,” Harry said, finding his voice.

“This looks like chaos,” Severus said.

Harry held up the list of questions he’d been going down and handed it to him. Severus’ eyes scanned down the list. “You made it through all of these questions today?”

“Uh… well, almost,” Harry said. “You uh, said you wanted us to move through the material faster.”

Severus let his eyes roam around the students. Some of them looked like they thought they were in trouble as well, and others looked hopeful. Draco and Ron’s eyes were up on the blackboard full of points. Severus snorted. Half an hour ago Albus had asked him in the corridor if he knew why Gryffindor and Slytherin were both suddenly up nearly thirty points a piece. Whether Harry intended to give away house points or not, the castle took his station as a Prefect and his ability to give and take points seriously.

“By all means then, continue. It appears there is a tie to break.” He watched as Harry’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“Last question,” Harry said. “Teams, pick who you want to answer the final question.”

Slytherin chose Teddy right away and made him stand at the table. Gryffindor on the other hand had a minor argument going on. Hermione wanted to be the one to take the winning point, but Ron was insisting he could do it, and Neville was saying, “I can do this guys.”

“Gryffindor?” Harry asked. Hermione huffed and stepped back. Ron looked between Neville and Teddy, and then motioned for Neville to step up since he’d been facing off with Teddy already and had won the last point.

Neville took a deep breath, looking like he was trying to settle his nerves, and then gave Harry a nod. “What are the seven uses of unicorn blood?”

Teddy hit the bell and listed six uses, but couldn’t remember the last one. “Do you yield the question?” Harry asked, and Teddy nodded.

Neville proceeded to list all seven uses, and the Gryffindor line surged forward with happy cheers, Ron shaking Neville from behind by the shoulders and saying loudly, “You did it! You had him! We won!"

The happy cheers and chaos would have continued if their class time wasn't up. Severus held up a hand and stood in the door, preventing anyone from leaving. The class quieted down, all chatter of the points race and how fun class had been pewtering out as they realized their path was blocked.

"You have a dozen more concepts to get through that were not on the list that I gave to Mr. Potter to review with you," Snape said. "It is Friday now. Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, come to my office this evening directly after dinner and I will give you each the list of concepts that still needs to be covered to take back to your peers. You will all be taking another practice OWL on Monday, and will need to study the last twelve concepts."

Draco and Hermione both gave a nod, and Severus stepped out of the way to let the class pass by. Harry and Ron moved the table back into position on the Gryffindor side. When Harry went to pass out of the room, Severus said, "I have something to discuss with you this evening. Be in your quarters at seven."

"Yes sir," Harry said, nervous that he was in trouble despite the success he felt he'd had with the two reviews.

As they ate lunch a few minutes later, the fifth year Gryffindors were still talking about the fierce competition that had just taken place, and congratulating Neville on getting the winning point. Ron looked over at Harry and noted that he wasn't really eating his lunch, just staring at it. "Ok mate?"

Harry looked up at him. "Yeah, I just- think master Snape is upset with me."

"Nah, couldn't be," Ron said. "We learned a ton and got through all the material, right? Seriously, that was so much fun. We should be reviewing for all of our classes that way. That didn't feel like studying or learning at all, but I swear, my head is full of all the junk I need to pass my Potions OWL now."

Harry snorted and said, "The written portion. You still have to memorize and practice all those potions."

"Oy," Ron said, "I've been going to the potions labs!"

"Some of them," Hermione chimed in.

Ron looked from Harry to Hermione, and then back again. "You two aren't going to let me catch a break are you?"

"Neville's ahead of you," Hermione said. "He's only got ten potions left on his list to master and those are the ones from this year."

Ron huffed. "I'm just saying, I'm good to go on the written portion. Harry did a good job with the review, and I don't see how Snape could be mad. Even the answers I didn't know are seared into my brain now, and that was the most fun I've had in a class since Defense in third year when Remus had us dueling each other and I almost beat Hermione with that water charm."

Harry hoped Ron was right, that Snape wasn't upset with him. He pushed it from his mind as best as he could, but after dinner as he went to the common room to do some homework with his friends, and then headed back to his quarters at a few minutes to seven, the feeling that he might be in trouble came back again.

Snape knocked on his door at seven sharp. He was always punctual, though Harry supposed that wasn't a bad thing as he wasn't left to wait in his quarters for an extended time wondering how much trouble he was in.

The potions master came into the room and shut the door after Harry opened it. He moved to the couch by the fire and Harry followed, sitting across from him. Snape seemed to note right away that Harry was anxious, and said, "You are not in trouble."

Harry bit his lip. "How did you-"

"I saw the look on your face in class today when I came into the room. Despite the unorthodox method you chose to use, you did as I asked, and the class seems to have gotten the material down. You are not in trouble," he reiterated.

Harry took a deep breath, held it for only a moment, and then let it out slowly, giving a nod.

"I came to ask if you would consider running the same review for the fifth year Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw class next week on Wednesday and Friday. That class takes place during your Care of Magical Creatures class. As this will be considered part of your internship, you would be excused from both classes and would be given an extra day to do your homework for Hagrid."

"I can do that," Harry said with a frown. "Do you- have something you have to do again on those days?"

"I do not. Given that your method for review seems to be effective, it would be unfair to let the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fifth years go without the same chance to review. Many of those students did just as poorly on the practice OWL as the Gryffindor-Slytherin class."

"Oh," Harry said. The man wasn't going to be busy, he just liked what Harry had done and wanted his help to get the other class ready for their OWL. Again, it wasn't praise… Snape rarely ever praised anyone, and especially not Harry. But this was- nice. Harry felt a warmth spreading through his chest. Pride, he decided. He felt proud of what he'd accomplished.

"So you will do it?"

Harry looked back up at him, unable to help the small smile that was on his face. "Yeah. I'll do it sir."

"I will inform the Headmaster, Professor McGonagall, and Hagrid then, so you can be excused from Care of Magical Creatures on those two days."

"Professor Umbridge will throw a fit," Harry joked. Occasionally he felt comfortable enough, especially here in his own space, to joke around in front of Snape like he would with his friends.

He hadn't even realized that he'd said it until Snape snorted and said with an undertone of amusement, "Yes, I'm certain she will. Retrieve your apprentice text on law. I wish to go over a section of that with you this evening."

Harry hopped up off of the comfortable chair he'd been sitting in, and went to the little bookshelf he was keeping all of his books and textbooks on. He brought back the apprentice text and handed it to Snape.

For the next hour, Snape went over a chapter of the book with Harry, answered his questions, and then quizzed him on what he'd learned and then had Harry teach it back to him. It wasn't as exciting as learning it in quiz format, but Harry was comfortable and warm there in his cozy quarters, and by the time Snape left, Harry still had a small smile on his face.

* * *

Harry didn't see Snape at all on the weekend, but as soon as Monday rolled around, Snape came back to his quarters at seven after dinner, and kept coming by at seven each night to go over Harry's apprentice books with him.

As it turned out, most of what Harry had been tested on during the practice OWL the week before wasn't OWL material at all, but questions geared at telling Snape what Harry was struggling with in his apprentice books. As Harry had done well on that test, Snape was now moving through new material. It was all material that Harry needed to get through to pass his apprentice exam at the end of his second year of apprenticeship, but concepts that Harry had been struggling with or hadn't studied much yet.

Knowing that the man was going to come by at seven each night, Harry changed his routine with his friends. He, Ron, Hermione and Neville started studying for their other OWLs on Saturday and Sunday, spending the majority of their day in the common room at Harry's favorite table which was up on a platform under a window. The rest of the week, Harry tried to get his homework done during lunch, dinner, and the hour right after dinner, so he could be ready to study with Snape at seven.

Things weren't always easy between them, but there was a tenseness that had been there before that was gone now. The man didn't snap at Harry when he answered questions wrong, and he didn't always just expect Harry to be up to no good. The fact that he'd had Harry lead the review for two days in class, and then had him lead the review for the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw class the next week was proof that he was starting to trust Harry. That made Harry proud too. Most of the other teachers trusted him… hadn't looked down on him with disdain, except Umbridge. But it meant something that Snape no longer thought he was up to no good, because Snape was technically his guardian. This thought, along with several others about the time he spent with Snape brewing, learning, and teaching Mairi and Issac about preserving mushrooms all gave him a warm feeling.

* * *

"Harry, there you are," Ron said, coming up behind him. He looked out of breath.

"Hey."

"Harry, Dean's been complaining about the grade he got on last week's assignment in Transfiguration and I just realized why. You didn't get a hundred on that assignment about the process of transfiguring elements of water and fire either did you?"

"No," Harry said with a grimace. "Don't remind me." He was ready for his Potions OWL and doing well with all the studying Hermione had been making him do recently for Charms, but Transfiguration was still a sore spot. He'd never been really good at the subject.

"Well I just realized why Dean did so bad on it and I thought maybe you might be struggling for the same reason. You're treating the elements like a solid… like when you go to transfigure a pincushion or something," Ron said as they walked. He was still out of breath, but not because they were hurrying through the halls. He was just talking quickly and seemed excited to get all of the information out. "But it's not a solid, is it? It's water, or fire, or air. You jump into a lake and you don't smack into a hard surface unless it's iced over, you fall through it. Remember when McGonagall was telling us about the fifth form of Transfiguration? It's like that."

Harry frowned, working over the information. "So… push your magic through the object?"

"Exactly. You're not casting at it, you're casting through it."

"You're sure that's how it works? The book didn't say that."

"Positive. I just wasn't thinking about it until this morning when I was in the shower. When I'm transfiguring something in class, I'm not really thinking about how I do it, but I was practicing transfiguring the water in the shower and got to thinking about how my magic was flowing through it."

"Ok," Harry said. One problem down, and about seven hundred to go when it came to his issues and mediocre grade in Transfiguration.

"Hey, I have to go to Quidditch practice, but tell Dean when you see him yeah? In fact, tell Dean, and then make him explain it to Seamus, and make Seamus explain it to Neville."

"Why?"

"That's how you said they do it for potions apprentices right?" Ron shrugged. "Seems like it worked out well for you. Might as well do it with Transfiguration too, right?" Ron waved, hurried past him and disappeared around a corner, already running late for Quidditch practice.

Harry found Dean in the common room twenty minutes later, and explained everything Ron had told him. "And tell Seamus," Harry said. He explained the concept of teaching others to cement the information into their brain, and Dean went off to find Seamus.

He didn't see Ron again that evening as Quidditch practice ran late and Harry was due to meet Snape in the dungeons to brew a new potion Harry hadn't heard of before. The next day however, Ron found Harry at lunch and pulled out the list of concepts they'd been given at the start of the year in Transfiguration class.

"This is a copy of my list," Ron said. "Cross out all the stuff you're good to go on."

"You're helping me?" Harry asked for confirmation.

"Hey, I can help," Ron said, indignant.

"I know you can, I just wanted to be sure that's what's happening." Harry took a Muggle pen out of his bag and started crossing things off. What he was able to cross off was a paltry twenty items out of sixty eight. What he crossed off was a pretty even spread over the four and half years of Transfiguration classes they'd been through. He understood some things, but the gaps in his knowledge were apparent on the page spread before he and Ron.

Ron pointed at a first year concept that Harry hadn't crossed off. "The mental box," Ron said.

"Yeah," Harry mumbled, embarrassed that he didn't have this and several other first year concepts down. He had never understood those things when they'd been taught the first time around. That was back before Hermione was on them to study all the time and answer questions, and Harry was still trying to form new study habits, learn to write with a quill, and find his footing there at the school.

"No big deal," Ron said. "Look, this is one of the key concepts. If you don't have this one down, then it makes sense why you'd be having trouble with everything else." He held up fingers on both hands, trying to make a square. "Imagine you have this box in your brain."

"Ok," Harry said.

"No, seriously, close your eyes mate. See the box in your mind."

Harry closed his eyes there at the breakfast table. Hermione had yet to come down to breakfast. She'd wanted to go to the library early to find an Arithmancy book, so Harry and Ron were sitting by themselves way at the end of Gryffindor table.

"Describe the box," Ron said.

"Erm… it's a box."

"What color is it?"

"It has to have a color?"

"Give it one, but actually see it in your head as that color."

"White."

"Ok, tell me about the white box."

"Erm… it's a cube? It's white? It's got four corners on the top, and four on the bottom."

"Is it solid? What size is it? Does it have any doors and windows in it? Does it have a texture? What does it taste like?"

Harry opened his eyes, and raised a brow at Ron. "What does it taste like?"

"Yeah, what does it taste like?"

"I can't lick an imaginary box Ron."

"Sure you can."

At Harry's bland look, Ron laughed. "Ok, imagine that you're standing next to the box. Then imagine that you stick your tongue out and lick it. Then tell me what it tastes like. Just make something up."

Harry closed his eyes again, did as instructed and said, "Strawberry licorice."

"And the rest of the stuff about it?"

Harry shrugged with his eyes closed, finding the exercise to be pointless. He didn't see what any of this had to do with Transfiguration. "I don't know, it's smooth, and it's solid. No texture, no windows or doors or anything. It's taller than me… like a house."

"Ok, well there you go, that's the mental box." Harry opened his eyes again and Ron continued with, "You just imagined up a whole box, and you know everything about it, right? That's half of what transfiguration is. It's not just a spell you say and a wand movement like charms. You have to transform one thing into a whole other thing, and you can't do that if you don't know what it's supposed to look like, taste like, feel like, its size… all of that. But now that you imagined the box, and you know everything about it," here Ron pushed a bread roll towards Harry, "You could do basic transfiguration on this roll and turn it into the white box."

Harry picked up the roll and looked at it dubiously. He thought the roll looked like it wanted to remain a roll. Harry had been able each year to manage some transfigurations in class, but he'd always struggled to make them look right. Maybe this was why.

With another look at Ron, who gave him a nod of encouragement towards the roll, Harry began to cast a basic transfiguration spell. He imagined the white box, smaller this time, and the taste of strawberry licorice, because Ron had told him to and Harry trusted him. As he cast, the roll began to morph and change. Moments later, a white cube sat on his hand. It had a strong scent of strawberry licorice.

"Hey! Look at that! Good on you mate!" Ron said, giving Harry a slap on the back. "You know who else always does poorly in Transfiguration?"

Harry looked up at him, question in his eyes.

"The first years."

"Thanks," Harry grumbled.

"No, I'm serious. There's a whole group of first years in Gryffindor that complain about how bad they are at Transfiguration every night. They sit by the fire and moan and groan about it. Why don't you go teach them the mental box, and I'll look over the list and try to figure out how to help you with the rest."

Harry blew out a puff of breath. "Yeah… ok." As a fifth year, and as a Prefect, if he tried to teach a group of first years in the common room, it would look like he was only trying to help them out. Harry knew for a fact that Parvati and Lavender also struggled in Transfiguration, but thought that maybe Ron knew how embarrassed Harry might be trying to re-teach them a first year concept.

Later that evening, while Ron was out at Quidditch practice again, Harry found the group of first years that always sat on the floor by the fire in the common room, and sat down with them. They all looked surprised to see him sit down in their little circle, legs criss crossed like he was just another first year.

"Sir?" one of them squeaked.

Harry looked at the boy with mousy brown hair, and laughed. He wondered if this was how he had looked to Soren and Leighton when he'd called them sir. He hoped not.

"You guys are having trouble in Transfiguration, right?"

Several of them nodded.

"I thought maybe it's because you haven't practiced the mental box enough yet. Everyone close your eyes."

As Harry walked them through the same exercise that Ron had made him do that morning, he noted that Lavender was paying close attention from the couch by the fire. He only glanced over at her once, but she was taking notes, eyes flickering up to Harry and what he was saying.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to pass Ron's information along to her and Parvati as well. Perhaps he would the next time Ron taught him something he needed to know for his OWLs.