Severus could barely stifle a gasp when he saw the damage done to the corridor. Harry hadn't been exaggerating when he said that it had completely collapsed. He could barely see the other end from the piles of rocks that had fallen from the ceiling. The curse that had caused this would have killed Harry on impact if it had met its intended target.

He looked back at the boy who still looked shaken up. Maybe it was wrong to bring Harry with him while he tried to find the boys who had done this but Harry deserved to see justice served. He needed to know that his safety was a top priority at Hogwarts.

"Help! Someone, anyone!" Severus could hear a cry coming from beneath the rubble. He looked back at Harry to see that he had heard the cry, too.

"Stand back," Severus told him before he began to levitate the rocks one by one to clear way for the boys to get out.

"Professor! Thank Merlin!" came the loud cries.

Severus watched as the three boys helped dig their way through the rubble. It was Donovan, Mitchells, and O'Connell. All were from pureblood families but none from death eater homes. They all had relatively difficult upbringings but none of them had been physically abused. What was their motive for attacking Harry the way they did?

"I would not be thanking me yet," he said, not even trying to restrain his anger. "What exactly happened here?"

All three of the boys had made their way out and while they all looked ashen, but not a mark was on any of them.

"Sir, I can…" Donovan started but Severus held up his hand to stop him.

"You can explain in the headmaster's office," he said.

He turned around and observed that Harry was now trembling slightly.

"Come now, Mr. Potter," Severus whispered to reassure him. He took the boy's shoulder and led him to Dumbledore's office while the others trailed behind them.

The gargoyle didn't even ask for a password and just jumped aside when they approached as if he had been expecting them.

"Ah, boys, now what do I owe the pleasure?" Dumbledore asked upon seeing Harry and Severus enter. His smile quickly disappeared as he took note of the bruise on Harry's face and the three boys following them in, all wearing the same guilty expression.

"It seems that Mr. Potter has been attacked," Severus informed the man.

Dumbledore ushered the boy to sit in the chair and had Harry tell him what happened. Severus watched his sixth years as the boy told them what happened and wasn't surprised to see that none of them seemed remorseful.

"Do you three have anything to say for yourselves?" he asked once Harry had finished talking.

"Sir," Mitchells said. "We didn't even really hurt him. Besides you know what he did to You-Know-Who and now he's hanging around mudbloods! He is a disgrace to Slytherin."

Severus was across the room and in all three of the boys' faces in an instant. "Didn't even really hurt him? If that curse you sent hadn't missed it would have broken nearly all of the boy's bones in the upper half of his body! He would have died instantly. You call him a disgrace to Slytherin while you attack and nearly kill one of your own. You broke the most important rule of Slytherin today and now I cannot even bear to look at any of you."

All three of the boys looked shell shocked, as if they couldn't believe what their head of house was saying to them. Severus knew that they had thought he would stand up for them no matter what but they were sorely mistaken. Yes, he did have a personal relationship with all of his Slytherins and in almost any other circumstance he would be defending them but what they did was inexcusable and he would never have expected it from them.

Severus exchanged a long look with Dumbledore and contemplated whether or not to send Harry to his dorm or to let him stay to see what happened to his attackers. Veritaserum would have to be the next step. Harry had already been assaulted with the cursed letter and they needed to know if these boys had been involved. After that they would need to expel the boys and decide if they would press charges.

"Mr. Potter," he called, turning around. "Do you want to remain here or return to your dorm?"

"I'll stay, sir," he practically whispered. "If that's alright with you?"

Severus nodded and pulled out the clear potion. Dumbledore got up, walked around his desk, and conjured three chairs.

"Sit!" Severus ordered and was pleased when all three immediately sat down the chairs.

"Severus, if you would," Dumbledore asked in a tone that Severus rarely heard from the man.

He went up to each boy and deposited three drops on each of their tongues.

After waiting a moment Dumbledore asked, "What are your names?"

The boys all answered correctly so Severus asked the next question.

"What spell did you attempt to use on Mr. Potter?"

"Confringo," came the monotone response from Donovan.

"Have you planned to attack or attacked Mr. Potter at any time before today?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, sir," Mitchells answered this time. "We only attacked him because the opportunity arose. It was completely spur of the moment. We were angry with him since last night though."

Dumbledore continued to interrogate the boys and Severus walked back over to Harry. He once again squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Harry looked up at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"That is enough," Dumbledore announced after he had gathered a sufficient amount of information. "You are all hereby expelled from Hogwarts and will be forced to surrender your wands at this time. You will spend the night in the infirmary, tomorrow your parents will be notified, and you will take the train from Hogsmeade. I must say that I am disappointed in all of you and I expected better."

Severus produced the antidote from his pocket and gave it to each of the boys. He refused to even truly look at them and had no regrets as Dumbledore led the boys through the floo to the infirmary.

"Is it true, sir? Are they really leaving Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

Severus nodded, "Did you really expect differently?"

Harry just shrugged and Severus cursed those muggles in his head once again. The boy had no sense of self worth at all if he didn't think attempted murder was a good enough reason to be expelled.

"Sir?" Harry asked, "if they didn't send that letter then who did?"

"I am not sure," Severus admitted. "But trust me when I say I fully intend on finding out. Until we have found the perpetrator I will ask that you do not go anywhere alone."

"Yes, sir." Harry answered.

"Lets get you back to your dorm now," Severus told him. "I am sure there are a few Slytherin first years who want to have a word with you."

Harry nodded and let Severus guild him back down to the dungeons.

SHSHSHSHSH

Harry was surprised at the events that had taken place ever since he had entered Snape's office but he was truly baffled when those sixth years had been expelled. Maybe Snape wasn't so bad; he obviously cared if he was hurt. He not only healed him and had given him a salve for his bruises but he had made sure that the students had hurt him were removed from the school even though they were Slytherins.

He felt a strange sense of deja vu when he entered the common room and was instantly flocked by concerned first years.

"Oh Harry," Pansy cried. "Are you truly alright?"

"Those sixth years better have been expelled!" Draco exclaimed.

"If they weren't they surly won't be happy here anymore," Blaise added.

"I'm fine guys and yeah they were expelled," Harry told them. "But why wouldn't they have been happy to be staying at Hogwarts?"

"You don't think the others would condone what they did to you, do you?" Theo asked. "They broke rule one."

Harry looked around the common room and was shocked to see that not only had the room gone silent when he arrived but now everyone was nodding in agreement to Theo's statement.

"House is family, Potter," Jackson, a fifth year added. "We don't tolerate it when others attack our family."

Once again, everyone in the common room nodded in agreement. Harry was speechless; he couldn't believe that all these people would stand up for him.

"We do need to talk though," Draco said. "Lets go to our dorm."

All the first years had settled into the boys dorm before Blaise spoke.

"Look, Harry," he started, "we've had time to think about it and we still don't like you hanging around Granger. She's bad news for you!"

"While I appreciate the concern I can choose my own friends. I like you guys, I really do but I'm not going to ditch Hermione," Harry replied, trying not to get upset.

"Look," Draco cut in, "we'll ignore it for now, okay? Just keep her away from us."

Harry felt torn but he realized this was as probably the best solution for now.

"Okay," he conceded.

"You've got to stop going off on your own," Theo said after a moment of silence. "Its obviously not safe in this school."

"Yeah, Snape already told me not to go anywhere on my own. They didn't send that letter so someone else still wants to do me in," Harry agreed.

They all gave Harry a serious look.

"You aren't to leave the common room without at lease two of us, okay?" Draco asked.

"Yeah that's fine," he replied.

"Well I really need to finish up my homework," Blaise said. "Come on, lets go back downstairs."

Harry stayed on his bed as everyone else headed out the door. It had been a long, hard day and he needed some time alone to collect his thoughts. He had his friends back and while that was a relief it wasn't enough to keep him from worrying about the cursed letter. It was obvious that someone else wanted him dead, but who was it?