Harry wandered in Severus' chambers. They had returned late Sunday, too late for any of the students to have been out and about. Severus saw the relief on Harry's face when they had entered the school and found only a couple ghosts and portraits still watchful at the late hour.

"I don't want to go back to classes tomorrow," Harry objected.

"I understand," Severus replied.

"No, you don't," Harry replied bitterly. "I was happy. Malfoy will tell everyone. I just won't be able to take it."

"Harry, I'll be there to help you," Severus said. "And your friends, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, have declared their intentions as well."

"When everyone in the school knows, everyone outside the school will know too. The Daily Prophet will make sure of that. They won't even have to twist the story to get a good one this time."

"I don't want to give you false hope," Severus began, "but it might not be what you think. It won't be easy, and it will humiliating, but there still might be some good come from it."

"You think so?" Harry asked, though his voice betrayed the level of self-control he was exerting.

"Yes, I do," Severus replied.

"How would you like to have your secrets on the front page of the newspaper?" Harry whispered. "You would want to die of shame. You wouldn't want to let your class see you, and you wouldn't want to see your friends. Your class would know everything about you. They would laugh at you and make fun of you."

"As though they don't already," Severus drawled, but Harry wasn't about to be distracted.

"They wouldn't respect you. They'd mock you, and prank you. They'd think you were an easy target, knowing that you can't lash back. They'd know the sick twisted perversions you'd done. They would call you names in the hallways, names that you were called every night you had to do it."

"You're not talking about me," Severus said quietly. "You're talking about yourself."

"What will happen when they start taunting me? How will Ron and Hermione react? They'll be caught up in it too. What will happen when they begin whispering about how I wanted what my uncle did to me? What will happen when people start thinking I'm gay? I'm not. I don't want to be stereotyped like that. How long until there's rumors? I won't want to be around a lot of people. I'll want to spend time with Ron and Hermione by ourselves. Hermione might be safe from the rumors, but Ron won't. He's my best guy friend. How long until people start picking on him for spending time with me? What happens when they start talking about what we do when we're alone?"

"So you aren't worried about your friends' loyalties?"

"I won't want to expose them to that," Harry muttered. "Ron deserves better than to be reduced to the one who fucks the Boy-Who-Should-Have-Died."

"Language," Severus warned.

"Like you can talk," Harry sassed. "They can't be seen with me. I won't let Ron's chances at a girlfriend be ruined because he's too polite to ditch me."

"Harry," Severus admonished quietly, pulling the boy close, "Everything will be alright."

"I'm just so scared," Harry murmured into Severus' robes.

Harry woke early Monday morning. He'd spent the night in Snape's chambers, in order to delay going back to dorm for as long as possible. His restless sleep hadn't done anything for his anxiety, and finally he gave up on trying to sleep anymore. Snape was already up, judging by the quiet clattering dishes.

"May I go to the Great Hall and eat now?" Harry asked, trying to avoid his classmates for as long as humanly possible. Severus paused at the question for a moment, but then realized that it was so early, none of the students would be there yet.

"And the next thing you'll want is to wear your cloak to classes," Snape replied. "I can't have you avoiding humanity forever, Harry. You'll eat with everyone else." Harry winced and sat down with a text book to read until it was time to eat. Snape laid a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Just let me know if you're having any problems with the other students. I'll see to it."

"Without killing them?" Harry almost laughed.

"Without killing them," Snape confirmed.

The time until they were to depart for the Great Hall sped by more quickly than Harry would have hoped. It seemed like only a few minutes and he and Snape were at the large doors.

"It would probably be better that we not be seen entering together," Snape advised. "I'll go in first, and after two or three minutes, you can come in. Is that acceptable with you?"

"Yes, sir," Harry replied. So Snape opened the doors and entered the Great Hall, leaving Harry waiting outside until an inconspicuous amount of time had passed. Almost immediately after the doors had closed again, Harry heard a movement nearby. Upon looking up, he saw a familiar face.

"Draco," Harry said, letting his eyes rest on the floor.

"Potter," Draco replied.

"You've told, haven't you?" Harry whispered.

"You can find out for yourself when you go in," Draco observed. "You won't need my word."

"Why?" Harry asked, mustering the courage to look at Draco. His eyes spoke what his voice could not. "Do you really hate me that much?"

"Yes, Potter," Draco replied. "You should have accepted my offer to be friends back in our first year."

"I would never have done this to you," Harry pointed out.

"No, you would pity me," Draco agreed. "I would rather be sold out than pitied."

"You don't know that," Harry whispered, letting his gaze drop again as he leaned on the wall. "How many people know?"

"Well, it's a subject of utmost delicacy," Draco began, "so naturally the whole school knows." Harry closed his eyes and nodded.

"Just the school?"

"I have a letter for Skeeter right here," Draco said, pulling out a rolled parchment. Harry swallowed and bit his lip as he watched Draco put the parchment back in his bag.

"What can I do to convince you not to send that?" Harry shuddered.

"Nothing," Draco replied. "This is the final letter in a short correspondence with Skeeter. It's already been arranged that I have an interview with her." Harry nodded as rested the back of his head against the stone wall. Draco stepped close to Harry and leaned in to whisper something. "But you can convince me not to tell her about Snape." Harry felt a chill run down his spine.

"Snape?" he questioned, feigning ignorance.

"Yes, Snape," Draco said. "'You killed my parents and did worse to Snape.' That's what you said. I brought up that comment to my father. I'm not stupid, Potter. I can figure out what Snape and the Dark Lord were up to. Of course, I haven't said anything about this yet. I can be persuaded not to."

"What do you want from me?" Harry asked wearily.

"I owe someone a favor," Draco explained. "And you can pay it back for me."

"Is this a one time thing?" Harry asked, fearing what Draco was asking him to do.

"For my part it is," Draco shrugged. "I won't owe him anything anymore. What the two of you work out is your own business." Harry sighed. He was so tired. Tired of everything. Tired enough to lay down and sleep forever.

"And that will seal your lips forever?" Harry questioned. "You'll not tell about Snape? That secret will go with you to your grave?"

"You have my word, Potter," Draco said, without any hint of sarcasm. "Do we have a deal then?"

"Yeah," Harry whispered. "We have a deal."

"Good. I think it's past time for you to make your grand appearance." Draco darted off through the doors and to the Slytherin table as fast as he could walk and still retain any sense of dignity. Harry, on the other hand, placed his hand on the great wooden door, and breathed in deeply, steeling his will for what he knew would be a terrible experience.

He pushed the door open, and refused to look at anyone. He knew it was bad. When he pushed the door open, he heard everyone talking and chattering like they usually did. As soon as he was visible, everyone stopped. He knew they were all staring at him. He blushed a furious crimson as he walked to the Gryffindor table. Still without looking at anyone, Harry made his way to the spot where he, Hermione and Ron always sat. He risked glancing up at them across the table.

"Hey, guys," he muttered nervously.

"Hey," Ron replied almost equally nervously.

Then the whispering started, and Harry almost wished they would be silent again. He could hear things. He could hear what they were calling him, and what they were saying. He could hear Malfoy's name being repeated. "Malfoy says that Potter" was a phrase that stood out. Harry closed his eyes and tried to ignore it.

"We're so sorry, Harry," Hermione began. "We tried to stop the rumors. We told them Malfoy was just stringing together a tall tale that wasn't true at all. We even tried to start a few rumors about Malfoy to distract the school. None of it worked. We're sorry."

"That's alright," Harry dismissed, unable to eat any of the food on his plate. Instead, he just played with it. "I appreciate your efforts. What are people saying?"

"We don't know," Ron said. "No one will tell us. I guess we're too close to you for anyone to want to mention it."

"How are Neville and Luna taking it?"

"Luna's fine," Hermione said. "She doesn't believe a word of it. I don't think you'll have anything to worry about from her."

"And Neville?" Harry pressed.

"He's just confused," Ron explained. "I mean, he doesn't want to believe it. But he's been sticking up for you. You don't have to worry about him either. You have a lot of loyal friends. We won't abandon you just because Malfoy did the dirtiest thing ever."

"Not the dirtiest," Harry whispered so quietly that neither Ron nor Hermione heard. "I did that."

"You should eat something," Hermione pointed out.

"I can't," Harry protested. "How have the teachers reacted to this?"

"We don't know," Hermione shrugged sorrowfully. "It's been the weekend, and we haven't seen any of them. I'm sure Snape can set a few things right for you though, at least with the teachers."

"He will take your side, right?" Ron confirmed. "He's not going to protect Malfoy, will he?"

"He'll protect both of us if he can," Harry said. "I hope that he'll protect me over Malfoy though."

"He will," Hermione said. "You're his son. Just look at him now." She gestured with her eyes to the head table. "He's pretty upset, you can see that."

"I don't want to look, Hermione," Harry said, still not glancing up from the food he still hadn't touched.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Hermione pouted. "He's heatedly discussing something with the rest of the teachers. You can tell he's pretty ticked off. If I didn't have a good suspicion that the three of us were not the object of his anger, I would say today would be the perfect day to skip potions."

"You? Skip a class?" Harry snorted.

"If you would look at him, you would know why I wouldn't want to cross him at this point," Hermione admonished. Harry risked a glance at the head table, and saw just what Hermione had described. Snape looked furious and was hissing at the other teachers. Dumbledore was being unnaturally quiet, and when he looked over at Harry, Harry returned his gaze to his plate.

"It'll all be fine, Harry," Ron said, trying to sound encouraging. "Give it a couple weeks, and everyone will forget about it."

"No, they won't," Harry contradicted.

"Hey, you still have us," Ron continued.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that," Harry said. "I don't think we should spend as much time together. People will start saying things about you. Especially you, Ron." For a moment, Ron looked horrified.

"Doesn't matter," he muttered. "People already make fun of me for my last name."

"It's not the same," Harry countered. "You can't change your last name. I'm sorry. I just don't think that I'll be a good friend for you anymore. Thanks for everything. You've been the best friends I could have ever asked for. Don't try to talk to me much though. I won't let you destroy yourselves for my sake."

And Harry got up, leaving his still full plate on the table, and left the Great Hall. As the door closed behind him, Harry heard an eruption of talk. It was undoubtedly about him.

He had known he'd lose his friends over this. Harry had never thought he would be the one to make that decision though.

Classes were hell. Harry would walk into a room just in time to hear the talking completely stop. He would take his seat, without looking at anyone, and then class would start. He'd leave the moment "Class dismissed" was announced and hide until he had to leave to get to his next class.

Then there was potions, the last class of the day. In some ways, Harry feared this one a little less than the others. He could at least look at his professor without any fear of judgement. Still, when Snape had dismissed his class, Harry tried to run for the door.

"Please stay a moment, Mr. Potter," Snape casually said. Harry stopped and returned to stand in front of Snape's desk. Certain others in the class, including Draco, paused and appeared to be waiting to hear what Snape would say. Draco inconspicuously passed Harry a piece of folded parchment. Harry didn't react until Draco had left, but then opened it.

Wednesday, after last class period, girls' bathroom, second floor.

Harry felt sick, but knew he had to be there to do what Draco demanded, or Snape's secret would also be let out.

"Don't dawdle!" Snape hissed instead, and that convinced any of the other students to leave immediately. When the last student had left, Harry sighed and dropped his bag, leaning against the student desk in the front row.

"Yes, sir?" he asked.

"How are you doing?" Snape asked.

"How do you think?" Harry deflected.

"My thoughts on the matter are irrelevant," Snape continued. "I asked you a question."

"I'm okay," Harry shrugged.

"Then I'm gathering we have very different definitions of okay."

"What did the teachers say?"

"They asked a few questions," Snape admitted. "No one is critical of you."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them that I had seen signs of abuse during our Occlumency lessons, and had acted upon that in adopting you," Snape explained. "Which, that is also common knowledge now. I said that at the time, I had had no idea of how far the abuse had gone and it was only after the adoption I found out. I admitted to having known for some time. I told them that they were to not discuss the topic with you under any circumstances."

"Alright," Harry said. "Thank you, sir."

"Harry?" Snape asked.

"Yes?"

"You can always come to my office if things get to be too much."

"Thank you, sir."