"There he is."

"Prat."

"I didn't think he was like that."

"He seemed so nice."

"He must have drugged her. I know her and she's not like that."

"Do you think he did it?"

"It was in the papers."

"Hey Potter! Keep it in your pants next time!"

Harry's face turned red as he walked through the bustling Entrance Hall. The start of term feast had been a nightmare. Nobody had sat next to him except Ginny, and she only stayed long enough to tell him that she forgave him, even if he did do it, but that they couldn't date anymore. People stared and chattered, and some slurs were thrown his way, despite the Headmaster's speech about looking for the deeper truth and being responsible with what you believed.

It had only taken Harry one night to figure out that sleeping in the dorms wasn't going to work out. Ron wasn't speaking to him, and Dean and Seamus had spelled all his pants zippers closed while he slept, so that the next morning he couldn't get into any of his jeans, and was forced to enlarge his pants, then put them on and shrink them again. It was with great satisfaction that the fat lady watched Harry drag his trunk back out the portrait hole the next afternoon, and down the hall to the guest quarters he had inhabited the night before the return of the students. "When you decide to be a Gryffindor, you'll be welcomed back," she called after him, but he tried to ignore her. What was being a Gryffindor? Wasn't he already a Gryffindor by being responsible in the first place and not having sex before he was married and ready to take responsibility?

It was the second week of classes now, and Harry tried to keep his face from turning red every time he heard the whispers as he passed. The Headmaster had advised him in a note sent by owl to ignore the comments, but with shouts like, ‘Keep it in your pants next time,' it was getting harder to ignore.

Harry was starting to feel isolated again, with Ron ignoring him and Hermione sticking by her boyfriend, and Ginny giving him strained smiles but otherwise not speaking to him. It wasn't until lunch one day that somebody finally decided to sit next to Harry on the far end of Gryffindor table.

Startled that there was suddenly somebody across from him, Harry looked up to find Neville. "Hi," he said, unsure. Neville was giving him an awkward look, as if trying to figure something out.

"My gran doesn't think you did it," he finally said, staring straight at Harry and ignoring his food.

"And what about you?"

"I don't know. Did you do it?"

"No. Did the others send you to find out?"

"No. I wanted to know. I don't want to be friends with somebody who doesn't take responsibility though." There it was again, that big word people had been throwing at him so often lately.

"If the baby was mine, I would. But it's not. They did a chastity spell on me and I was cleared, which is why I haven't been expelled."

"Oh."

"Everybody knows Rita Skeeter prints lies, but they believe them anyway when it comes to me."

Neville finally remembered that there was food on his plate, and scooped up a mouthful of potatoes. "You're so popular everyone thinks you did it."

"Except your gran."

"And me," he said. Harry nodded.

"Thanks. Hermione said she believed me too."

"Have you figured out how she tricked the Veritaserum yet?"

Harry eyed him closely. "I don't know if she did. She probably isn't to blame at all. Somebody could have used Polyjuice or modified her memory."

"What if she did do all of this on purpose?"

With a sigh Harry scanned the crowd and found Susan sitting by herself at Ravenclaw table, looking down at her plate but not eating. "I guess she had a good reason then. I don't think she's in with Voldemort."

They ate in silence for a while before Luna came up to them and sat down next to Harry. "Hello Harry. Hello Neville."

"Hi Luna," they said in unison. Harry knew that she and Neville were dating now, and was happy for them.

"So what will you name the baby Harry?"

Harry set his fork down and looked at her. The question seemed innocent enough, and she didn't seem angry, even though she didn't believe him.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Oh, love is a beautiful thing Harry. Perhaps you were wrong in engaging in such activity so young, but so was Susan. She doesn't blame you you know."

"Oh," Harry said. He'd almost forgotten that Susan and Luna were in the same year and same house.

"She told you?" Harry asked after Neville had handed Luna a piece of celery.

"She doesn't like to talk about it, but I'm the only one in the house who will talk to her, so she does sometimes. She feels badly that others are treating you this way."

"Well that's something," Neville said brightly, trying to cheer Harry up.

"Thanks," Harry said, although he didn't feel like being cheerful at all.

Occasionally Neville and Luna continued to sit next to Harry at meals, but they also began to get flack from other students for associating with ‘that Potter character,' and so the meal time visits lessened at Harry's insistence.

Even though Harry was aware that all of the Professors had been informed that he was innocent, he still caught the glances some of them gave him when they thought he wasn't looking. Perhaps McGonagall had told them all of Harry's promise to try to get every girl he met pregnant if he was ever sent back to the Dursley's again. It was fairly childish, he reflected later, again recalling images of Dudley stomping his foot to get his way, but he reminded himself of the escaped beatings and impending punishments. There was a price to be paid for all things, and he supposed the price for his escape from the Dursleys was the treatment he would receive all year, and perhaps for the rest of his life. He had a plan though... if he couldn't handle the stares and comments after graduation, then he'd move to America, or some other country he'd always dreamed of visiting. There nobody would know him, and he could move on with life.

* * *

"Mr. Potter."

Harry had just come from the guest quarters and locked the door with a spell when he heard the silky voice behind him.

Severus did not fail to notice the sigh that escaped the boy's lips. "Yes sir?" He scratched the back of his neck and looked tired, as if he hadn't gotten any sleep.

"I believe you were told to move back into Gryffindor tower, were you not?"

"Yes sir. I did."

"For how long?"

"One night."

Severus crossed his arms and tried to conjure a look that would make Potter cower, but couldn't manage it. He had been watching closely, along with the rest of staff, as Potter was abandoned by his friends and treated like garbage. He wasn't the only one of course, Susan Lewitt was being treated much the same, and even Draco Malfoy seemed to be on the outs with Slytherin this year. But Harry seemed to be enduring the worst of it.

"So you figure you're in enough trouble already, that breaking one more rule will do no harm?" He wanted to know how Potter was doing without asking, and the last time he had encountered him, making him mad seemed a good enough way to get him to speak, even if he had done it unintentionally.

"Or maybe I just didn't want to live with people who hate me all year," Harry said, irritated now. There, it had worked, Severus thought with some satisfaction.

"What was that?"

Severus came to his senses and schooled his face neutral. "What was what Potter?"

"That," Harry said pointing at Severus' face, fairly angry now, "right there. You smirked when I got mad."

With a roll of his eyes, Severus said, "Do not make up things that are not true Potter in order to get out of trouble."

Harry shook his head and crossed his arms. "So I'm in trouble now for living where I won't get pummeled in the night or wake up to find my stuff ruined or my pants all glued shut?"

"So dramatic Potter," Severus said. "I did not tell you that you could not stay in the guest quarters. I was merely curious as to why you had disobeyed your head of house. It is up to her whether or not you may stay where you are."

"So you're going to tell on me again? I had to sit through a 45 minute lecture last time."

"One that you deserved from what I hear Mr. Potter. Under the circumstances it is probably not in your best interest to have access to a secluded room with a bed when the press has lead people to believe this to be the cause of your little problem."

Harry bit his lip. He hadn't thought about that. If any other girls got pregnant, and he was sleeping on his own in his own room, there could be even more trouble for him.

"I'm not moving back into the tower. Put some spells on my room so no girls can enter if you want. I'm not going back." Harry walked off, and Severus let him go. When Harry was gone, Severus did as Harry had suggested, not because he didn't trust the boy, but because if anything did happen, he could prove that no girls had been into Harry's room.