Another month had passed since Harry's life had taken a turn for the better. He hadn't gotten any more detentions, his grades had improved, and Gryffindor had even won its first match against Slytherin. With the lack of Harry losing so many house points, people had started to talk to him again and sit by him in class and during meals. He had finally allowed himself to calm down a little, although he still felt a little awkward and uptight around the Potion's Master. All in all he was feeling pretty good about things.

Snow drifted gently over the grounds as the term went on, and Harry was finally ready to believe that maybe there would be no detentions in his future until the day he found himself cornered by a group of fifth year Slytherins on the third floor.

"What's the matter Potter? Scared of a little duel?"

Harry frowned as he continued to back up down the dimly lit corridor chest tight at the prospect of facing so many guys with wands. "I'm not afraid of you," he lied, holding his wand tightly enough that his knuckles were turning white. In all truth he knew he really had no training in dueling, and only knew a handful of jinxes the twins had taught him.

"Oh no little potty?" the skinny, mean looking leader of the group said, a twisted smile on his face. "What about detention with old Snape? Afraid of that? Don't think we lured you here for nothing you little wretch," he sneered. "Snape ought to be here any minute, and he's going to catch you in the forbidden corridor."

Harry bit his lip and looked around wildly, suddenly realizing where he was. The Headmaster had told the entire school at the start of term that this particular corridor was off limits, and now here he was backed into a corner with Snape on his way.

"That's right Potter... don't know what you did to get in his good graces, but you're going to be serving detention with him some more... maybe even be getting expelled." The group laughed loudly, but then quieted as quickly as they had started as they heard footsteps approaching, and they hurried off down a small side corridor. Harry dared not follow for fear of what they might do to him.

Panicky Harry backed himself all the way against a wall and tried to look as small and unnoticeable as possible, wishing he were altogether invisible, and no sooner had he done so then Professor Snape had walked around the corner, looking for the source of laughter.

"Potter?"

Harry closed his eyes tightly, wishing he were anywhere else and feeling panicky all over again. He hadn't had a panic attack for some time now and wished he had some kind of control over himself and his own body so that this kind of thing didn't happen.

Snape approached and Harry knew he was just a foot or so off now but he couldn't answer or even open his eyes. Harry sank down to the floor and put his head in his hands.

"This corridor is off limits," Severus said cautiously, not wanting to startle the boy who was obviously in the middle of another one of his attacks. Obviously there would need to be punishment for his rule breaking, but he was unsure how to go about it without undoing all of his hard work over the last month and a half to get the boy feeling comfortable and safe in his surroundings again.

"They, they..." he was looking for a way to explain himself, but he knew it was fruitless because it would only seem like he was making up an excuse to get himself out of trouble.

"They what?" He fought the urge to cross his arms, because he knew if the boy opened his eyes he would only look more menacing.

Harry shook his head, and Snape sighed. Why was talking to the boy like pulling teeth?

"Do not start this again Potter. If I ask you something, it would be better to answer right away instead of making me waste my time asking you repeatedly. You will tell me eventually anyway." There, that didn't sound too menacing, did it?

Biting his lip again Harry opened his eyes, but kept them glued to the Professor's shoes on the floor in front of him. "They ran off when they heard you."

"Who?"

"The boys who brought me up here... they said I'd be in trouble."

Severus sighed again and could no longer resist the urge to cross his arms. "You are in trouble. What boys? What house are they in?"

Harry frowned. There was no way the Professor would believe him if he said the fifth years had been in Slytherin... he would only get himself into trouble telling him the truth. On the other hand, he didn't want to get innocent students in another house into trouble by lying.

"And the answer is?" He could feel himself getting impatient with the boy... he took so long to answer everything.

"Slytherin." Harry noticed the defeated tone in his own voice. Surely he would be hauled away for ‘lying' after this, but he was already in trouble, so it couldn't be too much worse.

"Stand up Potter," Severus said. Harry stood up, eyes still on the floor. "I do not know why you are here in this corridor, but the fact remains that you are, for whatever reason, and the Headmaster has given orders that whosoever is caught here will get one detention. You will report to your head of house as soon as possible and explain yourself."

Harry waited silently to hear the rest of his punishment, but it didn't come. Wondering if it was safe to look up, or if the full force of the Professor's wrath was still to come, Harry snuck a peek at the man. His arms were crossed, but he himself did not appear angry.

"S, sir?"

"What?"

"I... I mean, is that all sir?"

"For now. Return to your common room and do not come back to this floor." Severus stepped aside and waited for Harry to pass, just to be sure that he was indeed leaving the area.

Wondering if maybe it was a trick to get Harry to turn his back so that he could get a good kick in the backside, as uncle Vernon or Dudley sometimes did, Harry hurried by and had to resist the urge to hold his behind for protection as he did so.

He was nearly to Gryffindor common room when he ran across Professor McGonagall in the hallway and told her he was supposed to come talk to her as soon as possible.

"What is it Mr. Potter?" she asked there in the hallway, not wanting to walk all the way back to her office.

"Professor Snape said I was to come to you immediately and explain myself to you."

"Explain about what?"

"Why I was in the forbidden corridor on third floor. He said I was to have detention but he never said it was supposed to be with him or when it was."

It was McGonagall's turn to cross her arms now. "Really Mr. Potter? What on earth were you doing there? Have you no sense of self-preservation? Was the Headmaster's warning about a gruesome death not enough to deter you?"

Harry looked up into her eyes with such sorrow and sincerity that she was taken aback. "I didn't mean to go there Professor. A group of Slytherins chased me and then said I was gonna be in trouble because I was gonna get caught there. Then when they heard Professor Snape coming they ran off."

She studied him searching for the truth, and decided that he wasn't lying. "And Professor Snape told you to come to me with this?" Harry nodded. "Oh, well, that is a change then isn't it?"

Harry was confused, but didn't ask for her to clarify what exactly she was on about. "Mr. Potter, for whatever reason, you were there, and I'm afraid you will serve detention for it. If you were able to give me the names of the ones who chased you they too would be in trouble, but as it stands now you will serve detention with me tonight at 7pm for one hour. Is that understood?" Harry nodded.

"Good then. Bring your homework and plenty of parchment."

When Harry got back to the common room and told Ron about what had happened, his friend swore loudly to a glare from Hermione, but agreed that at least it was better to have the detention with McGonagall and not Snape.

Harry reported to McGonagall's office at 7 sharp, homework in his backpack, and took a seat in the small student desk sitting in front of her own desk. This was the first time he had been in this office, and unlike Snape's office, it was well lit, large, and had a window that looked out over the grounds. He couldn't be sure because it was dark, but he thought he saw the Quidditch pitch off in the distance.

"You're handwriting is hardly presentable Mr. Potter," McGonagall said after he had taken a seat. "Copy as much of your homework as you can onto new parchment. If you get done with one assignment you will start on another."

Harry looked surprised. "You mean, I'm not going to scrub floors or cauldrons?"

"Detention is not so much to be used for punishing as it is to be used for teaching Mr. Potter. Scrubbing cauldrons and floors will not help me read your homework the next time you turn it in. Get to work. You may leave at eight o'clock." She went back to the book she had been reading, and not wanting to push his amazing luck, Harry set out to rewriting all of the assignments he had with him. Luckily he had completed three of them already so he had something to copy. At the end of an hour he was still wondering at his wonderful luck. He wished he'd get detention with McGonagall more often when he got into trouble rather than with Professor Snape, although, he was also still amazed that Snape had let him have detention with McGonagall at all.

After he showed his rewritten assignments to his Head of House he was free to leave, and he had the rest of the night to himself. Ron was also amazed and happy that Harry had returned so early, and that they had time to play a round of Wizarding chess before bed.

"Why do you reckon he let you do detention with her?" Ron asked as he and Harry packed the game back into the box after a couple of hours.

Harry shrugged. "No idea. I thought I was dead when he caught me up there. He didn't even yell at me. Can you believe that?"

"No," Ron shook his head. "Not possible. I wonder if somebody transfigured themselves to look like him and they let you off easy."

Harry laughed. "Who would do that? If he was somebody else he wouldn't have given me detention at all."

Shrugging Ron pushed the box under his bed. "Don't know Harry, maybe you're luck is changing is all... maybe the Headmaster came down hard on Snape for being so mean to you and told him to knock it off or else."

"Or else what?"

"I dunno... Snape's dark though, I know that for sure. My brothers told me he used to be in league with You Know Who. Maybe Dumbledore threatened to kick him out on his arse if he didn't start being nice to you."

Ron climbed into bed and Harry sat on the edge of his own pondering this. Was Snape really only being nice because he had to be? He didn't know, but he much preferred being treated like a normal student, no matter the reason.