Harry rushed out of the entrance doors, quickly making his way over to the lake, wanting the peace he knew he could attain there. He sat trembling on the rock, trying to compose himself. He couldn’t believe the nerve of his friends, trying to force him to talk to them like that. He was furious with them and terrified all at once. They knew his secret. He didn’t know how they knew; he’d run out before they could tell him that. What hurt the most was Ron, who he felt had betrayed his confidence. Thinking back on it now, his fury grew.

FlashbackWalking into the Common Room, the happy smile that had graced his face ever since he had spent some time with Zane instantly disappeared. He just knew in that instant that the four sitting quietly and stoically at the corner table meant trouble for him. They instantly stood as one as soon as he’d entered, and came towards him. Not really knowing why, Harry had the sudden desire to run back out the door he had just come through.

“Hey, Harry, we need to talk, care to join us upstairs?” asked Fred, or maybe it was George, Harry couldn’t quite tell. His worry had overpowered him at that point.

“What for?” asked Harry, idly playing with a loose string on his robe.

“We just wanted to ask you a question is all.” encouraged Ron, pasting a fake smile on his face. Harry was instantly suspicious of this behavior, especially from Ron.

“I guess.” Harry followed his four friends upstairs and surprisingly, they went into Fred and George’s dorm, not Harry’s. “What’s going on?” he asked, his suspicion shining through his eyes.

“Chill out Harry, we just want to talk. Take a seat?” they asked. Fred, George and Neville all took seats on two beds that were placed closest together, while Ron continued to stand beside him. Probably to stop him if he tried to walk out. Sighing to himself, he took a seat on the bed closest to the door.

“So, what do you want to ask me?” he inquired.

Ron took a deep breath and sat down on the same bed as him and turned to face him. “Harry, we’re worried about you. The twins and Neville know about your bruises, mate. Can you tell us who hurt you?” he asked as calmly as he could, trying not to scare Harry out of this conversation.

Harry sat rooted to the spot. “You told!” he yelled, feeling hurt. “That was a secret!” He couldn’t believe that Ron would betray him like this.

“No, Harry, it’s not like that.” tried Neville, but Harry wouldn’t listen.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re not having this conversation.” said Harry, and immediately stood from the bed. As soon as he took a step however, Ron had him by the arm.

“No, Harry. This is important, and we need to talk about it. Please, sit back down.” he implored the younger boy, but Harry just shook his arm off.

“It’s none of your business.” he hissed, and once again tried for the door. This time it was Fred and George who blocked his way.

George gently laid his hands on Harry’s shoulders and pushed him back down on the bed. Harry had been too surprised, actually, to resist him. Once he had a grip of himself, though, he violently shrugged his shoulders out of George’s grip. “Don’t touch me!” he yelled, and flipped over to the other side of the bed, his feet landing swiftly on the ground. He stood facing the four who had confronted him, breathing harshly.

George threw his hands up in the air, telling Harry with his movement that he wouldn’t touch him again. “I’m sorry, Harry, I didn’t mean anything by it. Please, just talk to us. Tell us who hurt you, we can help.” He pleaded with the raven-haired teen.

Harry shook his head no. “You can’t help me, it’s already over. You don’t need to worry about it.” he tried to explain, but the others didn’t realize that his attacker was dead.

It seemed Neville wanted a try as well. “But Harry, what if you see this person again that hurt you, what are you going to do then? We need to know so we can help you if that time ever arrives. We only want what’s best for you. Don’t you see that?” he asked, his eyes showing clearly that he was concerned.

Harry sighed and pulled a shaking hand through his hair. “I won’t ever see him again, okay? You don’t have to worry about it, now please, let me go.” he asked.

“No, Harry…” started Ron, but Harry kicked the bed violently in front of him.

“Let me go!” he screamed, power pulsating around him, his hair blowing in all directions.

Apparently, the twins had seen that Harry had had enough of this conversation, and Fred quickly opened the door using his wand. Harry quickly left the room, running down the stairs. He could hear Ron yelling at his brothers for letting him go, but the voices faded as soon as he’d left the Common Room. He ran straight for the lake.

End FlashbackHe was angry. And not a little bit worried. What would they do with this information now that they had it? He hastily pulled his legs up and pressed his knees into his chest, burying his head there. He didn’t want to, but he thought it might be a good idea to go back inside and talk to his friends about this. The sooner the better. He hoped they all knew it hadn’t been Professor Snape, as Ron had so vehemently proclaimed that first night back. Surely, he would tell them the truth of the matter, or what he knew, at least. How did things get so screwed up? he wondered.

He stood up from the rock, his personal sitting area as he referred to it now, and slowly trudged back towards the seemingly looming castle doors, his head down intent on the grass as it softly swayed in the wind. With his head lowered, he didn’t notice anyone else was there until he saw two sneaker-clad feet in front of him. He gasped, unsure of what to do. Sure, he had been heading back inside to have this conversation, and with more than just one person, but faced with it so suddenly, he didn’t know whether to run or stay put. Resigned with his fate, he gloomily looked up into the eyes of one of the twins.

“Hey, Fred.” said Harry, unenthused.

“Don’t sound so happy to see me.” he replied sarcastically, even as his face softened upon seeing the dread in Harry’s. “Don’t worry, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t out here jumping in the lake or something.” he said, trying to lighten the mood.

Harry smirked. “Yeah, I can just see myself doing something that stupid, Fred.”

The redhead grinned. “Sorry, not the best material I’ve ever had…” he shrugged. “Hell, I’ve never had to come up with a witty remark in response to something like this before, either.” he said finally. The look adorning Harry’s face caused a frown on Fred’s. “What happened to you wasn’t your fault, you know.” He said out of the blue.

Harry rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air. “Yes, thank you for stating the obvious as so many people seem to think I believe it is my fault. I don’t, you know. I am completely aware of the fact that it wasn’t my fault!” he said adamantly, as he had told Snape that morning. “I’m sick of people trying to psychoanalyze me.” He grumbled, and Fred looked at him as if he was nuts.

“Psycho, what?” he asked, clearly never hearing that particular term before.

Harry waved the question away dismissively. “Never mind.” He started for the doors again. “I guess I need to talk with all of you, before you all jump to the wrong conclusions, anyways.” He sighed, pulling a hand roughly through his hair. “I don’t want to have this conversation again today.” he moaned quietly.

“Harry, you don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. I mean, you probably should, at least to someone, but I’m not trying to force you. I really just came out here to make sure you were okay. And, I swear we’re not trying to…psycholyze you.” He said, and raised an eyebrow at Harry’s snort.

“Psychoanalyze.” he repeated the term correctly. “I know that, but I don’t want you guys jumping to the wrong conclusions about who did what to me. I especially don’t want you thinking it was Professor Snape.” he said, turning to look Fred in the eyes at that statement. “I mean it, it wasn’t Snape.” he added.

“Yeah, we knew that much, Ron would have told us otherwise. We know who it is, Harry.” He said, looking at the younger boy sympathetically. “Why didn’t you ever tell us? We could have helped you sooner.”

Harry’s eyes widened in confusion and shock. “What are you talking about?” he asked, wondering how the older teen could possibly know who had hurt him.

Fred sighed, mistaking the question as denial. “Harry, don’t deny it. Who else could it be? If it’s not Snape, only one other remains…your Uncle.” he said, and waited for Harry’s response.

The raven-haired boy grimaced in response. Fred was close, his Uncle had abused him, but he wasn’t close enough. “Actually, that’s not true.” He said, and almost laughed at the look on the older Weasley’s face.

“Harry…” he paused, not knowing what to say, apparently. Harry watched the conflicting emotions run across Fred’s face. When the emotions finally settled on deeply concerned and confused, he stepped in.

“I’m not saying that someone didn’t…well, hurt me, but I am saying that it wasn’t my Uncle.” he finally confided.

Fred gasped. “It wasn’t your Uncle?”

“Not this time.” he whispered, but Fred had heard.

Harry looked up when the older teen had remained silent for a bit too long. “Fred?” he asked. The redhead looked as if he wanted to scream, to rant and rage, but the look scared Harry nonetheless. “Fred?” he asked, fear tainting his voice.

“Just how many people have hurt you?” he asked, steaming his anger was so great. “Apparently, it wasn’t your Uncle this time, so who did?” he yelled, all the while thinking ‘how dare they touch Harry.’ Revenge was the next in line.

Harry’s large green eyes widened even more at the anger clearly obvious in the older Weasley’s tone. He knew in the back of his head that Fred wasn’t angry with him, but his irrational side, which seemed to be in permanent residence lately, came out full force. He thought Fred was angry with him for letting people hurt him.

He wrapped his arms around himself defensively. “I…he was mad, and I couldn’t stop him…I tried, I did.” He whispered pathetically. “Why are you doing this?” he asked, moving steadily further and further away from the infamous redheaded temper flaming in front of him.

The twin finally came to his senses when he heard Harry, and hated the fear that he heard in his little ‘brother’s’ voice. He had caused that fear, and it nearly broke his heart. “No, no Harry, I’m not mad at you. Please, don’t think that.” he pleaded, picking up the slack between them, even as Harry continued to back away from him. “I didn’t mean for you to think I was mad at you. I’m not, I’m angry at the ones who hurt you, who caused you to think I would be mad at you for this. I’m not, Harry, I’m far from being mad at you. Please, don’t be scared.” he asked, finally closing the distance.

Harry still looked so lost and confused. Fred sighed and did the one thing that always helped him when he was upset. He unleashed the Molly Weasley within and embraced the younger boy. “I’m so sorry.” he whispered, as he felt Harry tense at the touch. He was grateful when he finally felt the younger teen relax in his embrace. He couldn’t feel more horrible than he did now for causing Harry to fear him, even momentary as it was. “I’d never hurt you, Harry.” he whispered, more to himself, but he knew Harry had heard him when he heard the equally whispered reply.

“I know.”

…………………………………………………………….

The two of them walked back into the castle, Fred with his arm casually draped over Harry’s shoulder as the younger boy leaned into him for support. Harry had finally divulged the ‘secret’ of who had hurt him. Now, they were on their way to tell the others before they let their wild imaginations get away with them. Although, the direction their imaginations were heading weren’t far from the original truth. The Dursley’s had hurt him, but not as badly as Jeb had, almost, but not quite.

They had just made it past the Great Hall and were climbing the staircase when Harry noticed a person blocking their way. He looked up and was surprised at who was standing there.

“Potter.”

Harry met the older boy’s gray eyes as he felt Fred tense beside him. “Malfoy.” He said evenly, with no hint of hostility in his voice. He hoped that, along with Malfoy’s mellow attitude at the moment, that Fred wouldn’t open his mouth and start going off. He knew the redhead was in defensive mode at the moment, especially when it came to him. But, he didn’t want Fred to cause a fight between the two of them, not when they had some kind of truce going on.

“What do you want, Malfoy?” spat Fred, anger already rising in his voice. So much for the ‘not opening his mouth and going off’ thought of before.

Malfoy looked to Fred with a look of complete boredom. “Nothing, Weasley. I was merely making my way to the Great Hall. I would like to have some semblance of a meal today. Now, kindly get out of my way.” He said, motioning with his eyes that he would like to pass.

Fred glowered at the younger boy, but moved regardless. Harry met Malfoy’s eyes once more and they both nodded. As the blond disappeared into the Great Hall directly behind them, Fred nudged Harry to keep moving up the steps.

“That was odd, even for a Malfoy.” remarked Fred. “I wonder what that kid has up his sleeve.”

Harry smirked. “Maybe he’s just trying not to be a complete ass all the time.” Mentioned Harry, and raised his eyebrow at the look Fred was giving him. “What?” he asked.

“Malfoy’s aren’t nice, Harry. Grant it, he wasn’t being super friendly or anything, but he was almost being cordial, which just isn’t right.” he added, more to himself than to Harry.

“Well, I don’t know what’s up with him, and neither do you, apparently. And besides which, I have more crucial thoughts on my mind right now, you know. I’m really nervous about this, Fred. Won’t you just tell them?” he moaned. Having this conversation with so many of his friends wasn’t sounding pleasant, not at all.

“Harry, I think it would make you feel much better if you told them, just to get it off your shoulders. I’m sure you’ll feel tons better knowing they know the truth, and you’ll no longer have to skirt around what really happened to hide the truth. Just tell them and get it over with. It’ll help, I promise.” he said knowingly.

Harry didn’t think Fred could possibly fathom how hard this was for him. It hadn’t happened to Fred, how would he know if it would make him feel better to get it all out in the open. It sure didn’t seem like a good idea now. “Maybe I’ll just tell them later, then.” he said hopefully, and Fred frowned.

“If you don’t want to tell them now, you’re not going to want to tell them later. You might as well do it while I’m here to help you through it. Of course, I’d be there any time you needed me to, but I’m just saying. You’re half in the mind to do it at least, so you might as well. It’s not going to hurt, Harry. We’re all you’re friends. We want to help you. I know it can’t be easy walking around with that kind of secret. Please, tell them, tell me. I still don’t know the entire truth, you know.” pleaded Fred, who tightened his grip around his shoulders, presumably to comfort him.

“Look, I’ll tell them, I swear. But, not right now. Just give me time, please? You don’t know how hard this is. Just give me a few days, I need to think this through. And, I’d like to talk to Severus about it as well. He’ll help, believe me.” He said, hoping the older boy would just understand and leave it at that.

Fred sighed. “Okay, Harry. But if you haven’t come to us in a few days, we’re coming to you, understand?” he said. Harry nodded. “Good. Well, I’d better go find the others and let them know what’s going on with you…not what you told me, of course, just that you want to wait and stuff, kay?” he asked.

“That’s fine, Fred. Thanks for talking to me. I really appreciate it.” He mentioned as he headed off towards the dungeons.

“Don’t mention it!” yelled Fred, who was almost already out of earshot for Harry. The raven-haired boy smiled as he headed towards his guardian’s rooms.

……………………………………………

It was nearly evening now, and the happy beast lay just beyond the big man’s home. He hadn’t seen his boy in a while, but he knew the boy had many things to do, now that he was back at, what he assumed, was a school. As he lay lazily in the grass, he heard the shuffle of footsteps somewhere behind him. He was unconcerned, however, until the footsteps came towards him. However, he relaxed as soon as he saw who the person was. It was the big man that his boy always talked to whenever he came outside.

“Hello, fella’.” said the big man, reaching out to stroke behind his ears. He loved it when people did this. He wagged his tail almost violently at the touch, and somehow ended up on his back. When the touch went away, he realized what position he was in, and quickly regained his composure, coming to rest on his haunches. The big man took something out of his pocket and held it out in front of him. He sniffed it carefully, and immediately wolfed it down. Bacon! He loved that too. His boy must have told the big man what he liked to eat.

As the two of them sat companionably beside the hut, he once again heard footsteps. Looking up, he saw a man he had only seen a few times before out on the grounds. Somehow, he didn’t get a good feeling when this man was around. He growled as the man approached, but quieted when the big man laid a hand on his head. He remained tense, however, as the two men began a conversation.

“Hello…Hagrid.” Zane lifted his head casually at the name; he hadn’t known it before…somehow he always missed it when his boy, Harry, came to visit with Hagrid. He listened intently for the other man’s name.

“Professor Dillard.” remarked Hagrid, clearly not too fond of the man, and it appeared Dillard wasn’t too fond of the big man either. The Rottweiler sat back on its haunches once more, listening intently to the conversation going on in front of him.

Dillard gave the big man a nasty look before addressing him once more. “I’m looking for a certain weed that is said to be found in the Forbidden Forest. I’m not sure of its name, but I know what it looks like. Can you help me find it?” he asked.

Hagrid looked at the other Professor suspiciously. “Whatcha needin’ it fer?” he asked.

Dillard sighed in exasperation. “Can’t a man do something around here without everyone asking questions?” he asked hotly. The big man stood taller at the other Professor’s outburst, and Zane stood up to all four paws once more, growling lightly in the back of his throat. He found a hand lightly stroking his ears once more to calm him.

“It’s not exactly unheard of ter ask whatcha needin’ a ‘gredient fer.” remarked Hagrid, defensively.

The Professor sighed once more. “It’s just for a potion, Professor Hagrid. It’s a personal matter, and I’d rather not discuss it if you don’t mind.”

Hagrid nodded. “Fine, Professor. But, why not ask Professor Snape?” he asked. “He knows more ‘bout that kinda thing than I’d.” he said.

Professor Dillard gave the big man a rather frightening look whenever he mentioned Professor Snape. “I refuse to ask that bastard for anything, including an ingredient.” snapped the man.

Hagrid gasped out loud at the Professor’s language. “S’cuse me?” roared Hagrid. “That kinda language ain’t nec’ssary!” he yelled, getting defensive once more on Professor Snape’s behalf.

“Look, Hagrid, I have personal issues with Snape that you know nothing of. In my opinion, that kind of language is just fine.” he spat, but quickly calmed down. “Will you show me where it is?” he asked, but it didn’t look like he expected the big man to give him the ingredient, not after his defense of Professor Snape.

“Find it yerself.,” said Hagrid, calmly enough. “I’m busy.”

Zane watched as the big man walked away, clearly very upset. He returned his attention to the mean Professor once he heard him start cussing the man fluently. He growled dangerously once more, and the man turned his eyes to the Rottweiler. As the man’s eyes met Zane’s, the dog knew instantaneously that this man was dangerous. He approached him, growling all the more, and then barking loudly at the man.

He watched in satisfaction as Dillard took a step away from him in fear. “Damn dog.” he muttered. Zane barked viciously once more, and made as if to jump at the man, but then stopped mere inches from him. He could tell the Professor wasn’t sure how to react to such a movement, and that he was quite frightened. He continued to growl low in his throat. When the man drew his wand, however, Zane backed off, knowing full well he was no match to the ‘stick.’ Continuing his low growl, he stalked back to Hagrid, all the while giving the man his evil dog look. That man meant trouble, and he had every intention of keeping an eye on him.