He thought of Snape's- of his father's house, but wasn't sure if he had been removed from the wards or if Snape had alarms set up around the house to notify him when someone entered during school months. Harry sighed as he sat with his back against a tree in the forest he'd apparated to in the south of Britain. He could go to the Weasleys, they weren't even that far away, but he was positive they would contact Dumbledore. Dumbledore would ask a lot of questions that Harry didn't want to answer.

Rain drizzled down around him and splashed into his eyes and on his glasses and face as he hugged himself. Maybe he should have just stuck around Beauxbatons and watched for Snape to leave and then snuck back inside. It was obvious to him that Adeline had been the one to contact Snape and give away his location though, so Beauxbatons wasn't exactly a safe bet. Not that sitting in the woods on someone's private property was a stellar idea either. He only hoped that Voldemort didn't think to use some sort of tracking spell on him while he was out in the open and unguarded.

Exhausted, Harry tried to keep his eyelids from falling closed as the rain continued to thoroughly soak him. He must have dozed off though, because a sudden noise to his left had startled him awake so badly that he jumped and his heart began to race.

"Easy boy," said a voice as Harry pulled his wand out, wincing at the pain in his arm. There was a man that looked familiar staring at him, but Harry couldn't figure out who he was.

"I'm Cedric's father," the man said, and Harry, heart still beating erratically, lowered his wand slightly, squinting through his water speckled glasses to see him better.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked. "Why aren't you in school?"

"It's a long story," Harry said.

"Why don't we get you up and out of the rain so you can tell it then," Mr. Diggory said. He pulled Harry to his feet and motioned for him to follow him through the trees.

"Am I on your property sir?" Harry asked.

"You're on my wife's property," he said. "She owled me and said an alarm sounded and wanted me to come and check."

"Your wife's property?" Harry asked.

"Things have been... strained, since Cedric died," he said. "She moved a couple towns over."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, looking at his shoes as he was led to the back door of a small cottage and inside.

"It's not your fault," he said.

Harry looked around and didn't see anyone and Mr. Diggory told him that as soon as his wife had sent an owl off, she'd floo'd away, scared that Death Eaters had come to destroy her house since she was Muggleborn.

Harry was led to the large fireplace and Mr. Diggory threw a handful of floo powder down and said an address and password and stepped into it with Harry at the same time. They re-appeared a moment later in Mr. Diggory's empty house, which Harry knew was just a short walk away from the Weasleys.

"Now then," Mr. Diggory said, motioning for Harry to sit on the couch as he fetched a towel and handed it to Harry and then sent a drying spell at his clothes, "let's hear why you aren't at school."

Harry dried his hair off with the towel, trying not to use his sore arm too much and thought about what he should say, if anything at all. He didn't know if he could trust Mr. Diggory. He'd never actually spoken to the man before. At the end of the tournament Harry had tried to give his winnings to the Diggory's, but Cedric's mother had politely declined and his father had never said a word. They knew Voldemort had killed Cedric though, so they probably weren't on Voldemort's side. They might want to turn Harry in to Voldemort however as he was mostly responsible for Cedric's death.

"Voldemort attacked the school."

"Yes, I heard," said Mr. Diggory gravely.

"Mr. Diggory-"

The man held up his hand and said, "Amos, please. I don't like to be called Mr."

"Amos-" Harry started again uncertainly, "I'm really sorry about Cedric."

Amos stared at Harry for long moments, eyes full of emotion, and then looked away. "You think it's your fault. I saw it in your eyes in the Hospital Wing after the tournament."

"If I would have been better I would have got to the cup first and he wouldn't have been in the graveyard at all."

"You were a- you are a-," he paused, looked Harry up and down, and then re-thought what he was going to say. "No one thinks you're to blame Harry. You did better than could have been expected given your age. I don't want you to think it was your fault. Unless you held up your wand and used the killing curse, then that blame doesn't fall on you."

Harry wanted to tell him he was wrong, but kept his mouth closed, not wanting to disrespect the man, especially since he had just pulled him in out of the rain and dried him off.

"Continue with your story," Amos said, and Harry fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Dumbledore sent me away from the school during the attack. I was supposed to go back and fight but I didn't." He wondered if the man would be angry that he had run away instead of fighting and looked up to gauge his reaction. It wasn't about the fight, it was about Snape, but he couldn't tell him that. If Snape hadn't already been fully outed for having helped Harry with occlumency, he didn't want to put him in danger by spreading it around that he was Harry's father.

"That was three and a half weeks ago."

"I went to another school and stayed with friends there and took classes. It was attacked too."

"Boden."

Harry nodded.

"Then I ended up at Beauxbatons, but someone contacted Hogwarts and my- and Professor Snape came to get me. That was the other day."

"Why don't you want to go back to school?"

"It's complicated."

"Life can be that way sometimes," Amos agreed as he conjured tea and handed a steaming cup to Harry, "but it doesn't have to be. Sometimes we make it more complicated than it should be."

"It's not exactly something I have control over," Harry said.

"Where do you plan on going since you're dropping out of school?" Amos asked.

"I'm not dropping out," Harry said, startled.

"Staying in school could be a problem if you don't go back."

Harry took a drink of his tea and thought about it. He supposed he'd have to drop out if he wasn't planning on going back. Was he really planning on staying away forever?

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do," Harry admitted after several long moments in thought. He didn't want to give up his education, but his options were pretty limited if he wasn't planning on going back to Hogwarts and dealing with the problems he'd left there.

"You look tired," Amos said.

"I got hurt in the attack on Boden."

"Do you need a healer?"

"No," Harry said. He pulled up the sleeve on his arm and showed it to the man. "It's healing, I'm just tired and achy."

"I assume you have no place to stay since you were sleeping out in the rain."

"Not unless I want to get caught and taken back to Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Hm." Amos took a drink of his tea and left the room. Harry thought the man had gone into the kitchen as he heard him pulling out what sounded like plates and silverware, but couldn't be sure. Harry thought that now would be the time to leave if he was going to do it, since Amos was occupied, but he was so tired and his arms and legs felt like jelly. He could hear that it was still raining heavily outside as well and didn't fancy going back outside and getting soaked again. Harry used the time alone to wrack his brain for anywhere safe he could go, but couldn't think of anyplace and ended up falling into a doze as his eyes fell closed. When Amos re-emerged from the kitchen ten minutes later with two sandwiches and a cut up apple, he found Harry slumped sideways on his couch fast asleep. He threw a white blanket over him and considered the boy. He was almost as old now as Cedric had been when he'd died. It had been a long time since he'd spoken to a teenager, but he could tell Harry was conflicted about something. It had to be something big to make him run away from school. Something bigger than grades. Something bigger than Voldemort even. If the boy had someplace to go he would have gone there already, and at the moment, seeing the slumped over from sleeping on his couch he was reminded of Cedric and didn't have the heart to turn him out just yet, or to contact Dumbledore, though he knew he really should.

Amos sat down in his chair and watched Harry sleep.

* * *

"Harry."

"Hm."

Someone shook his shoulder gently and Harry winced. "Harry," said the voice again, and Harry's eyes snapped open to find Remus hovering over him.

"Remus!" Harry threw his arms around the man and tried not to wince out loud as his arm twinged in pain. "What are you doing here?"

"Amos is a friend of mine and he remembered that I was friends with your parents. He wasn't sure he should contact Hogwarts and floo'd me instead."

Harry hugged Remus tighter.

"You know they've been looking for you," Remus said.

Harry let go of him and looked into his eyes as Remus sat down on the couch next to him in Mr. Diggory's living room. "Are you going to take me back?"

"Is there a reason you shouldn't be in school with your friends?"

Harry looked around the room and noted that Amos wasn't there.

"He went out to fetch his wife and take her back to her cottage," Remus said.

"Do you think- would you mind-"

"What?"

"Could you prove to me you're Remus?"

Remus gave him a serious look and then said, "You used Expelliarmus on Severus in the Shrieking Shack after he interrupted us and tried to arrange for Sirius and I to go to Azkaban. When you were in my office learning to cast a Patronus you preferred chocolate biscuits over pure chocolate after the boggart knocked you out, and I generally served orange tea with your biscuits."

Harry hugged him again suddenly and Remus held him tightly for a moment before Harry pulled away.

"People must think I'm a coward for running away from the fight," Harry said.

"No one thinks that."

"That's not why I ran away, and when Voldemort attacked Boden I tried to stay and fight but August dragged me away."

"You went to Boden?"

Harry nodded.

"Maybe you'd better tell me the whole story," Remus said. Remus explained that there hadn't been an Order meeting in several weeks so he was a little out of the loop. Harry explained about attending classes at Boden, the attack, and waking up at Beauxbatons with Snape by his bedside telling him that he was going to take him back to Hogwarts as soon as he was able to travel. "I was supposed to go back yesterday, but I left before he could take me back."

"The question is why?" Remus asked.

Harry took a big breath and sighed. Remus was an Order member so he supposed it wouldn't be a danger to tell him about Snape, and he did want to tell someone. He wasn't sure if Remus would help him or take him back to Hogwarts though.

"Professor Snape is my father," Harry said, watching Remus' face for his reaction. Remus' eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What makes you say that?"

"Narcissa Malfoy told me... that night the Headmaster sent me to Hogsmeade. She let me go and instead of going back to the castle like I was supposed to, I disappeared."

"Harry, she's a death eater. What makes you so certain she was telling you the truth?"

"At Beauxbatons-" his voice caught and he swallowed, hoping tears wouldn't spring to his eyes. "Snape helped me tuck some memories away... he saw what she told me and he didn't deny it. He knew it was true."

"He's known all this time?" Remus asked.

"Not until he saw what she told me."

Remus sighed and then gave Harry an appraising look. "It's a lot to take in. I can see why you might not want to go back."

"It's stupid," Harry said. "I know that."

"It's not stupid. You've been away for almost a month though. I know you know how important your education is, especially with what's going on."

"Please don't make me go back Remus," Harry pleaded. "I just need a place to lie low where Voldemort can't find me so I can recuperate. My arm is all messed up and I'm still really weak. If I go back to Hogwarts now they'll stick me in the Hospital Wing until I'm better and Snape will be able to do and say whatever he wants and I won't be able to get away."

Remus searched his eyes for a moment and then said, "You can come to my cabin. I won't contact the Headmaster."

"Won't you get in trouble with the Order?"

"So long as I know you're safe," Remus said. "Come on cub." He pulled Harry up off the couch, wrote a quick note to Amos thanking him for contacting him, and then apparated Harry to his cabin in Falstone.

"I don't have a spare room," Remus said, "but the couch is comfortable." Harry fell onto the brown couch in the tiny living room in the stone cabin and felt like he was finally someplace safe where he could just think for a while.

"You're sure no one's mad at me for acting like a coward?" Harry asked before he closed his eyes.

Remus dropped a green blanket on him and sat down on the wood coffee table. "The only thing I've heard talk of is, ‘Where is Harry? Where do you think he would have gone? Is he chasing after Voldemort on his own? Is he trying to get to Mongolia?"

"Mongolia?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Word is you were very taken with the culture of the students from Khar and got close with one of the teachers there."

"Yeah but... Mongolia's a long way off." Harry had never even considered traveling internationally during his time running from Snape until he'd ended up at Boden.

"We'd hoped you'd gone there instead of going after Voldemort. I don't think it's yet crossed anyone's mind that you ran away from a fight. I heard what you did at Gemini and I don't think anyone that's ever met you would think you'd run away from danger."

Harry sighed. "No one knows me," he said, "not really. Sirius would be really mad if he found out I was Snape's son."

Remus gave him a look Harry couldn't decipher and then said, "Sirius loved you Harry. He might have loved you at first because he thought you were his best friend's son, but it doesn't take anyone long to love you just for who you are. I don't think it would have mattered." Remus looked down after Harry didn't respond, and found him asleep. He pulled the blanket up over Harry's shoulders and stood up. Harry clearly needed the rest.

* * *

Remus had gotten sixth year textbooks from somewhere and given them to Harry to read while he was recuperating. He emphasized again to Harry how important it was to stay caught up on his work and after two days set Harry to writing essays on each chapter and on several concepts Remus thought important enough to write about. Harry did so, glad to have quiet time to himself and also glad that Remus had put his mind at rest about people believing he was a coward.

Three days after Remus had taken him in, Harry felt well enough to get up and move around. His arm no longer hurt and his energy had come back. Remus brought another book out full of shield spells, counter curses and counter hexes and told Harry that he wanted him to master as many of the things in the book as he could. They devoted their mornings to practicing things from the book and Remus had Harry practice as much of it as he could without a wand, though Harry still wasn't very good at wandless magic.

Harry felt guilty for enjoying his time there with Remus, and he felt even more guilty when Remus showed him a copy of the Daily Prophet with a Headline reading: ‘Voldemort launches attack on Beauxbatons Academy.'

Harry reached out and took the paper and scanned through the lengthy article. Apparently only minimal damage was done and no one was hurt. What caught Harry's attention however was that the paper had somehow gotten a quote from Voldemort about the attack.

"Harry Potter is nothing but a scared little boy. I chased him out of Hogwarts, Boden and Beauxbatons."

"That's crazy," Harry said suddenly. "I left Beauxbatons over a week ago. He just attacked last night."

"I know," Remus said. "And you know, and Professor Snape knows... that's good enough."

"Is it?" Harry asked, feeling sick to his stomach.

"He's trying to lure you out because he knows your weakness is appearing cowardly to others."

Harry frowned. Was he that easy to read? He'd told Remus a lot of things but he knew Remus wouldn't have reported anything to Voldemort or his spies.

"Don't give it anymore thought Harry," Remus said, but the next day there was an article in the Daily Prophet asking questions such as, ‘Where is Harry Potter now and why has he run away from school?' Harry huffed in irritation and wondered what his friends thought about the article.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked, watching as Harry pulled out a pen and parchment.

"Writing to the Prophet."

"What do you intend to tell them?"

"That I'm off receiving special training to knock Voldemort on his scrawny arse."

Remus raised his brows. "I doubt the Prophet will print anything in your favor. The Headmaster believes they've been bought off and have been since just after the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

Harry stopped writing. "Voldemort is running the Daily Prophet?"

"It's likely he's pulling the strings."

Harry set his quill down and sighed. Remus went into the small kitchen to make breakfast and Harry sat back on the couch and thought on his predicament. He had run away and without being present to account for his actions people would believe whatever the Prophet printed because that's what always happened. He wouldn't be able to convince the Prophet of anything, but what about other papers? Luna's father owned the Quibbler, and Hermione had taken advantage of that once before.

Harry pulled out a new parchment and scribbled out a quick letter to Luna and signed it with a picture of a Firebolt at the bottom. Remus allowed Harry to use his old barn owl to send it off and asked Harry if he'd sent a letter to the Prophet anyway.

"Nope," Harry said, pulling out his Transfiguration textbook to study for the day. "I wrote a friend."

Two days later Harry received a newsletter in the mail he'd never seen before. It was one page front and back and at the top in bold print it said, "Hogwarts Guardian". There were four hand drawn towers at the top of the page, two on each side of the newsletter name, and each tower had a house crest drawn on.

"Remus," Harry said, and Remus came into the room with a cup of coffee. "Look at this," Harry said, feeling giddy.

"I didn't know Hogwarts had a student newsletter," he said.

"I don't think they did until today."

There were only two articles, one on the front and one on the back. The article on the back talked about how the many Boden students at Hogwarts were adjusting to life in a new school and had an interview with several Boden students about what they thought about the house system they were now part of. On the front was the article Harry was interested in though. It was written by Luna and titled, "Boy Who Lived Just Misses You Know Who At Beauxbatons."

‘You-Know-Who's recent attack on Beauxbatons is just another in a string of attacks on magical schools in several countries. You-Know-Who claims that he is attacking schools while searching for the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, but The Hogwarts Guardian has it on good authority that Harry Potter is searching for Voldemort.

"I feel really bad," said Potter in a one on one interview with The Hogwarts Guardian. "I heard there was an attack going on at Beauxbatons so I hurried over, but by the time I got there it was all over and done with."

When asked what took Potter so long to reach his destination, he said, "I was having a bit of a lie in and I missed him. Voldemort has terrible timing."

Harry and Remus found a photo of Harry on the lawns in front of Beauxbatons and Remus said, "You didn't sneak out when I wasn't looking did you?"

Harry laughed. "It's a photo from when we took a tour of the school. Look, I think you can see Hermione's arm in the side of the frame. I didn't know anyone got a photo of me."

The article went on briefly to detail the damage done to the school and that repairs had already been completed. At the bottom of the article there was a note that said, ‘This is the original article. Other newsletters and papers may copy and redistribute this article in its entirety with permission by The Hogwarts Guardian.'

Harry laughed out loud and Remus took the newsletter to read what was on the back.

"Was this your idea?" Remus asked when he was done reading.

"I asked Luna if there was anything she could do to get the truth out. I might have jokingly told her I was having a lie in and missed him."

The next morning Harry received a copy of another newsletter, this one several pages long and looking as though it had been running for a while longer than the newly formed Hogwarts Guardian since it read issue 134. It was called ‘The Beauxbatons Star,' and it had re-printed the article Luna had written about him on the front page. Later that evening another newsletter arrived called ‘The Durmstrang Daily,' and the article appeared again, this time on the back page.

"She sent it around didn't she?" Remus asked, and Harry grinned.

"Look at this," Harry said, pointing at the bottom of the page. "According to the Durmstrang student paper, their articles are sometimes picked up by the ‘Magic of Norway Herald."

"That is one way to get the word out," Remus said. More than that though, Harry found out it was a way to make Voldemort angrier than he was before, if that was even possible. Voldemort set part of the Forbidden Forest on fire and burned down Hagrid's cabin, and ‘The Daily Prophet' reported that Harry had abandoned his friends at Hogwarts and left them in danger. Without having to write to Luna, another edition of ‘The Hogwarts Guardian' was sent to him the day after the Prophet article with an article about the incident. Even though Harry hadn't given Luna any quotes, she wrote that Harry had.

'"Voldemort should really wait to start destroying things until after eleven in the morning if he wants me to come by. It would help if he would have a cup of tea waiting for me."'

"Harry," Remus said, half in shock when he read the quote.

"It wasn't me, I swear," Harry laughed out loud. "I bet you anything Ron said that and Luna put it in there."

There was also a quote from Hagrid saying that he'd been wanting to build a bigger cabin for years anyway and now was as good a time as any to do it.

"Harry," said Remus seriously, "I think you should be very careful. Toying with Voldemort might not be the wisest idea. The more you toy with him the more he might destroy and the community could blame you for provoking him."

Harry wanted to tell Remus that he wasn't enjoying this back and forth, but he couldn't. Looking contrite he said, "I understand. Should I write to Luna and tell her to quit?"

Remus held up the copy of the newsletter and said, "Just be wise with your words and actions. I think this newsletter may be a big encouragement to the students and the community at large so I'm not sure stopping it now would do any good. I think whatever you say and do you should try to remain blameless. I've seen the Ministry blame people and charge them with criminal actions for a lot less than this."

There were no new attacks reported about and no new articles about Harry for the next several days, and Harry was starting to get bored with his studies again and starting to feel cooped up living in Remus' tiny living room. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy Remus' company, it was that he missed his friends. Hermione was on his mind often and the longer he was away the more he felt as though he had abandoned her. It hadn't escaped him that Ron was still there while he was away either. Hermione had left Ron because he wasn't at Gemini and Harry was there. Harry wasn't sure how to feel about that because he was still half rooting for his friend to win her back, and half rooting for himself because he really enjoyed knowing there was someone there for him who saw him just for who he was and liked him anyway.

"Are you thinking about Charms?" Remus asked as he came into the living room and saw Harry on the couch with his Charms book open and staring off into space.

"Thinking about Hermione," Harry said.

"More studying and less day dreaming then cub. You've still got catching up to do. Your mother and father would never forgive me if I let you fall behind in your studies."

Harry frowned and then looked up at him. "James was that studious?"

"Severus was that studious yes," Remus said. "James studied hard because he had to so he could spend all his free time practicing Quidditch. I think Severus studied hard, like your mother did, because he wanted good grades and enjoyed learning. He was top of our class in Potions and Defense. Your mother was second in Potions and first in Charms and Arithmancy if I recall right."

"I didn't know that," Harry said.

Remus sat in the worn green chair by the fireplace and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Harry, have you given any thought about returning to Hogwarts? You've been here for almost two weeks and your injuries are healed."

Harry closed his book with a sigh. He'd been dreading the moment when Remus would bring this up. He scratched his head and said, "I'd rather not go back right now."

"Because you don't want to deal with Professor Snape," Remus said.

"You know what he's like," Harry said, half pleading. "It was pretty bad at Gemini over the summer."

"I heard," Remus said. Harry hadn't told him much about it, but he wondered if Dumbledore had at one of the Order meetings. "How has he been since you returned to Hogwarts though? I heard you were getting special training with him and working for him."

"Not as bad as at Gemini I guess," Harry mumbled. Snape had also bought back his Firebolt from Draco but Harry didn't want to bring that up.

"I understand this is difficult for you, but it's also not something you can leave as it is. You won't be able to deal with the situation and get things sorted out unless you go back."

"Maybe I'll just enroll at Durmstrang," Harry half joked half snarked, "then I won't have to deal with anything."

"Don't you have questions for him that you'd like answered?"

Harry did have questions, like why Snape was sleeping with his mother and Draco's mother at the same time. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answers though, and he wasn't sure Snape would give him answers in any case. What he didn't want to do was go back and get cornered and get yelled at, or bossed around, or told that he was Snape's ward now and had to do as he said.

"If I don't make the decision to go back," Harry said, "are you going to tell them where I am?"

"Cub, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want. I'm not going to turn you in, and I'd rather you stay here instead of try to strike out on your own. I think it would be wise to return though, and not to put it off until the end of the school year. It's only a few weeks until Christmas. That might be a good time to return, when you can be on holiday and not have to deal with classes and Severus at the same time."

Harry thought Remus had a point, but that didn't mean he wanted to go back.

"There's something else I didn't tell you," Harry said a few minutes later when Remus sat down with a cup of hot tea.

"Draco Malfoy is your half brother?"

Harry stared at him and let his mouth hang open.

"I'm one of the few in the Order who knows Severus is Draco's real father. I had questions about some of the things Dumbledore had Severus doing... about why Draco was allowed to get away with certain things. The Headmaster explained that it was Severus' goal that Draco be spared from having to become a death eater, and that it was necessary that he be able to continue looking up to Severus as a role model."

"That explains a lot," Harry said. "I mean, I figured he was nicer to Draco because he always knew, but-"

"There's a lot more at play than just you and the prophecy," Remus said. "Order members never get more information than is necessary for them to do their jobs so if they're caught too much information doesn't get revealed to Voldemort. There are a lot of moving parts to the Headmaster's plans. I don't know that we'll ever know all of it, even after it's all over."

"Draco plays a part in it is what you're saying though," Harry said.

"I don't know," Remus said. "Aside from the fact that Draco's life would obviously be in danger if Lucius or other Death Eaters found out that he was really Severus' son. As of right now the illusion stands that there is no one Severus cares about, so Voldemort can never threaten him in that way. For now they're both safe. And Severus obviously doesn't want Draco to join Voldemort's ranks. Beyond that, I'm not certain if Draco has a part in this or not."

"Except we're tied together now," Harry said. "It's all so complicated."

"Unfortunately life is rarely ever simply," Remus said, sipping his tea. "What defines us is how we handle the complicated things we face. If everything were simple... easy, life would be boring, don't you think?"

Harry thought it sounded like something Luna would say. What he wouldn't give for one boring year at Hogwarts though. One year without Voldemort, or without being yelled at and given detention, or finding out secrets about prophecies, or lost fathers and brothers, or the death of friends.

"I'd like a boring year," Harry said.

Remus looked at him sadly, but didn't say anything as he rose to leave Harry to his thoughts.