Snape quietly entered the hospital wing and went over to Harry’s bed. Harry looked to be asleep, so he picked up a chair and carefully moved it to Harry’s bedside, accidentally making a soft scraping noise.

“Harry?” he said quietly, testing to see if Harry was awake or not. Harry made no response, though, so Snape resigned himself to thinking about what he’d seen Harry doing with Malfoy while he waited for Harry to wake.

Dueling, in the middle of the dungeons, with a Slytherin! Whatever had possessed him to do that?

From what he’d seen, Harry had agreed to duel Malfoy, knowing full well what could happen from it. He knew how dangerous Malfoy was, yet he did it anyways, completely disregarding his own safety in the process.

And Malfoy had willingly disobeyed the rules that had been set forth for him by Snape and Dumbledore. No less than they’d expected, but still……… He’d at least expected him to listen to them, if only for a short while.

He sighed and glanced over at his son. It appeared that Harry was waking up. Good. Now he could ask him what had possessed him to leave his quarters and get into a fight with Malfoy.

Harry sighed softly and rolled over onto his side, facing away from Snape, still seemingly asleep.

Snape tapped his fingers on his thighs and waited. Harry had to wake up sometime. Madam Pomfrey hadn’t given him any sleeping potions, just something for his shoulder and his back. He had seen the way Harry had been slammed into the wall and was sure that it had caused considerable damage. Madam Pomfrey’s potions would take care of that quickly, though.

As for Malfoy, he was getting sick of the Headmaster’s adamant refusal to expel the boy, though he knew the man had his reasons for allowing the boy to stay. He could almost hear the Headmaster speaking to him about that again.

“I’m sorry, Severus, but that decision does not rest with me alone. The entire Board of Governors has to agree as well, and you know perfectly well that even though Lucius Malfoy is not a part of them, he has them wrapped around his wand.”

Snape sighed and looked intently at his son. He was positive that Harry’s fingers had fluttered ever so slightly.

Murdering Malfoy was out of the question, but what if the boy was Portkey’ed to a deserted island and left there? He had been raised by house elves his whole life, practically nursed by them. He would certainly starve to death within a few days.

Snape smiled sardonically at the thought. The Headmaster would never let him do it, though. He didn’t think Harry would approve either, regardless of what the boy had done to him.

Most unfortunate, thought Snape. At least he could still torment Malfoy with detentions. There would be no more dueling in the hallways for him, not with all the detentions he was going to have.

But if there was another confrontation between the two boys again, he had to have a back-up plan. How could he keep Harry safe from the Slytherins? And then it hit him. What better to use against Slytherins than Gryffindors?

Harry’s Gryffindor friends would be perfect for the job of protecting Harry. The only potential problem with that was how Harry had treated them while he had been under the curse. They might refuse to help.

Just as quickly, he dismissed the thought. They were Gryffindors after all. They’d help Harry, no matter how badly he’d treated them. And once they knew what had happened to him, they would be clamoring all over each other to help him.

Pathetic, really, but it was true. Gryffindors were pathetic in their ability to perceive danger and then throw themselves into the middle of it, no matter what the expense was to themselves. As long as they were helping someone else, they didn’t care.

Harry was trained to do the same thing. That was what had led him to save the Sorcerer’s Stone, Ginny Weasley from the Chamber of Secrets, his godfather, take the Tri-Wizard cup with Cedric Diggory, and ultimately led to his godfather’s death in the Department of Mysteries. It was saving-people thing, ingrained in every Gryffindor.

Bloody noble Gyffindors, thought Snape. Always having to do what was right.

He was going to have to go find them while Harry was still in the hospital wing. He stood and lightly brushed his hand over Harry’s shoulder.

“I’ll be back in little while,” said Snape quietly and headed off to find the Gryffindors.

~Harry’s POV~

Once the door had closed behind Snape, Harry shuddered and sat up. Snape was a fucking arsehole. The nerve he had, coming in here after being with Draco Malfoy, and touching him.

Harry scooted a leg up and rested his chin on his knee. How could his father betray him? Why had he felt the need to abandon Harry so completely?

Harry looked down, his throat growing uncomfortably tight, and picked at the striped bedspread, wanting to cry. He was alone…..again.

Harry sat there miserably for some time, until Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and over to his bed. After a final check up, she let him leave the hospital wing.

Surprisingly, when he opened the door to leave, he found Ron and Hermione walking down the corridor towards the hospital wing.

“What are you doing here?” asked Harry.

“Well, we were going to visit you, but since you’re released, we’ll just walk with you back to the Tower,” said Hermione.

“Okay,” said Harry. The trio was silent during the walk up to the Tower.

When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione gave the password, “Phoenix tear,” and they went inside. Harry received quite a few shocked looks, and not a few glares.

“What is everyone’s problem?” asked Harry as they crossed the room to where Ginny had saved them seats by the fire.

“Harry, you scared them after what you did to Michael Corner,” said Ron.

“What did I do to him?” asked Harry confusedly. He couldn’t remember doing anything to Michael, though he had a blurry image of dueling someone.

“You can’t remember? We all know he’s an evil git, but you nearly killed him!” said Ron loudly. Hermione quickly shushed him.

“Ron! You don’t need to have them scaring the first years!” she chided.

“I can’t remember that,” admitted Harry. “Everything after leaving here is kind of blurry.” Hermione reached out and touched his knee.

“We’re really sorry we made you so mad, but we didn’t want to risk telling you about that article,” she said quietly.

“Everyone wants to keep things from me. Why can’t they realize that I can do better with more information, not less?” asked Harry. Snape was keeping things from him too.

At least his friends weren’t traitors like his father, thought Harry bitterly.

“They’re only trying to help,” said Ginny quietly.

“Help, sure,” said Harry resignedly. He couldn’t take any more of this staring. He stood up and started towards the winding staircase that led to the boys’ dormitory.

“Where are you going?” asked Ron.

“Upstairs, I’m sick of people staring at me,” said Harry shortly.

“I’ll go with you,” volunteered Ron eagerly, perhaps a little too eagerly.

“No, you stay down here,” said Harry as he walked over to the stairs, but Ron jumped up and followed him. Harry sighed and headed up with Ron following.

His trunk was back at the foot of his bed, and after a quick glance at Ron, who was rooting around his own trunk, Harry felt under his shirt to check that his dagger was still there.

It was, and Harry knelt by his trunk and carefully snuck it back inside. He carefully pulled some clothes over it, closed his trunk, and stood up. He then seated himself on his bed and looked over at Ron, who was munching on a Chocolate Frog.

“What--” he started to say, but was interrupted by the opening of the dormitory door.

Harry nearly groaned out loud as Hermione and Ginny entered the circular room and came over to the boys. Ginny curled up at the foot of Harry’s bed and Hermione situated herself on Ron’s.

“What are you two doing up here?” asked Harry.

“It was boring in the Common Room,” said Ginny. Harry looked suspiciously at them. Why were his friends acting so strangely?

They seemed to be trying to keep him within their sights at all times. Well, if they were planning on doing that, then he wasn’t going to make it that easy. He didn’t need any babysitters.

He got off of his bed and walked out of the dormitory and out through the Common Room. He made sure his wand was within easy reach as he headed down to the Room of Requirement.

He heard Ron, Hermione and Ginny call his name several times as they followed him, but didn’t bother turning back.

When he got to the corridor to the Room of Requirement, he paced back and forth, thinking of a room where he couldn’t be found by anyone.

A plain wooden door appeared and he walked through it. He shut the door firmly behind himself and seated himself on a squashy blue couch.

He scooted down farther and rested his head on the armrest. This would be a long wait. Soon, he found himself drifting off to sleep……..

~Snape’s POV~

Snape sat in his study, Lupin’s map spread before him. Ron and Hermione were sure to do a more than adequate job of watching Harry, but with this, he could be sure of Harry’s safety.

He watched Ron and Hermione’s dots go to the hospital wing, where Harry’s dot moved only slightly. Madam Pomfrey’s dot moved over to Harry’s, and after a few minutes, Harry’s dot moved and met up with Ron and Hermione’s dots outside of the hospital wing.

The trio walked up to Gryffindor Tower and then stopped next to Ginny Weasley in their Common Room.

About five minutes later, Harry’s dot moved again, followed by Ron Weasley. Harry and Ron went upstairs to their dormitory. Hermione and Ginny followed them minutes later.

Hermione’s dot settled down next to Ron, and Ginny’s next to Harry. After a minute or two, Harry’s dot headed for the door.

Snape watched in fascination as Harry moved purposefully and quickly down the stairs and out of the Gryffindor Common Room.

'Where did he think he was going?' Snape wondered. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny followed quickly behind him.

Snape watched them travel down the winding corridors, until Harry’s dot got way ahead of the others’. He moved back and forth, and then, suddenly, his dot vanished.

Snape’s blood ran cold as he stared at the map in disbelief. Harry couldn’t have vanished, the map had to malfunctioning. Lupin, he had to contact Lupin.

He half-stumbled to the fireplace and threw a handful of Floo powder in with shaking hands.

“Lupin, I need you here immediately,” he called. He returned to his desk to look at the map once more, double-checking to see if Harry really had disappeared. Harry’s dot was still missing. Lupin emerged from the fireplace and walked over to him.

“What do you need Severus?” asked Lupin calmly.

Snape thrust the parchment at Lupin and said as calmly as he could manage, “Your map is malfunctioning.” Lupin took the map and examined it.

“It’s working just fine, as far as I can tell.”

“It can’t be,” protested Snape.

“Why do you think it’s malfunctioning?” asked Lupin.

“Harry, he just vanished off of it,” said Snape, his voice cracking slightly.

“What?” asked Lupin, his eyes wide with shock.

“He’s gone,” said Snape, the words breaking him up inside.

“Severus, if there’s one thing we knew for sure about that map, it was that it never lies. If Harry’s vanished off the map, then it can’t find him. There’s a good chance he’s not even on the grounds anymore. Though, of course, there are places that we don’t have on the map. Ones that we didn’t know about when we made it,” said Lupin.

“Where are those places?” asked Snape instantly.

“Well, where was Harry when he disappeared?” asked Lupin. Snape pointed out the place, where the trio of Gryffindors was now prowling about, searching for Harry.

You won’t find him there, he wanted to scream at them.

“Looks like that’s about where the Room of Requirement is,” said Lupin. “Do you want to go look around?”

“Of course I want to look around, you bloody idiot,” snapped Snape.

“No need to get all nasty about it,” muttered Lupin.

“He’s not your son,” said Snape as he brushed past Lupin to lead the way out of his quarters.

Once they were well on their way to the Room of Requirement, Lupin chanced another guess at what had happened to Harry.

“You don’t think that Malfoy put a Portkey on Harry when they were dueling?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Snape, not even wanting to entertain that horrifying idea.

“It is a possibility, though,” said Lupin.

“Not in my mind,” said Snape. Malfoy wouldn’t dare try to remove Harry from Hogwarts, would he? Lupin just shook his head silently and they continued on their way.

When they reached the corridor where the Room of Requirement was, they spotted the three Gryffindors wandering around, looking confused.

As Snape approached, Hermione was muttering, “Where is it? I know it’s supposed to be right here.”

“What are you talking about, Miss Granger?” asked Snape.

“The tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. It’s supposed to be here somewhere and it’s gone,” said Hermione.

Just like Harry, thought Snape.

“And Harry, he’s vanished too. We can’t find him anywhere,” added Ginny.

“Are you certain you have looked everywhere he could be?” asked Snape, horrified to find a hint of desperation in his voice.

“Yes, sir,” said Hermione.

Snape stalked past them and began examining the hallway closely. After a close look at both sides, he found no traces of the missing tapestry. Indeed, it was like it had never been there.

The castle’s paintings and tapestries were known to move occasionally, but they were never too far away from their original locations. This tapestry had vanished completely, just like Harry.

~Harry’s POV~

Harry awoke drowsily. He was startled by his surroundings for a minute, then remembered that he was in the Room of Requirement.

Harry wondered how much longer it would take for them to come here and search. They’d be sure to know this was where he was hiding. Them and Snape.

Everyone was being too overprotective of him. First Snape and now his friends.

Harry’s mouth dropped open in shock as he realized the truth. His friends had to be doing this on Snape’s orders.

He couldn’t believe his friends had betrayed him too. He didn’t think that they would abandon him too.

It’s always the ones you least expect, thought Harry with a twinge of bitterness.

No one was loyal to him. They would turn on him in a moment’s notice if they thought that they would be better served by going against him.

He couldn’t have anything of his own. No family, no friends, no one.

Well, he wasn’t going to play by the rules anymore. From now on, he was going to play his own game, by his own rules. He didn’t need anyone else. He could do this on his own.

He stood up and marched determinedly to the door. Grasping the handle firmly, he threw the door open and stared coldly at the small crowd of figures looking confused.

~Snape’s POV~

Snape stared at a blank patch of wall, willing a door or the tapestry to appear upon it. Suddenly, he heard a creak from behind him and spun around. He stared in shock as Harry stepped out and looked coldly at them all.

Snape crossed the hallway in a few short strides and reached out to hug Harry, saying, “Merlin, Harry, we were so worried when you disappeared,” but Harry jumped away from him.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” snarled Harry.

“Harry, what’s wrong with you?” asked Snape.

“Wrong?” gasped Harry. “You have the nerve to ask me what’s wrong? I saw you with him.”

“Who?” asked Snape confusedly.

“Malfoy,” said Harry angrily. “I saw you two together. You’re a traitor, that’s what you are. Just get the hell away from me.”

Snape was baffled by Harry’s accusations, but realized that Harry must have seen the meeting with Malfoy in his office with his map.

“Harry, you’ve gotten the wrong impression from that,” said Snape calmly.

“No, I didn’t! I know what I saw!” said Harry loudly.

“You don’t understand,” said Snape. “I am Head of Slytherin House, of which Mr. Malfoy is a part of. I am in charge of his punishment.”

“What?” asked Harry in shock.

“We were meeting to take care of his first detention,” said Snape. Harry shook his head.

“No, I know what I saw,” he said firmly. Snape turned to the other three Gryffindors.

“Perhaps you should go back to your dormitory now. I can see Harry and I need to have a discussion,” he said to them. They murmured their assent and moved off.

Snape reached out for Harry’s arm, but Harry shrank back from him and shook his head.

“Harry, I need to talk to you where we do not risk being overheard,” said Snape quietly. Harry bit his lip and looked down.

Perhaps Lupin could be of some use in this, thought Snape.

“Lupin, will he go with you? We need to talk to the Headmaster. Harry deserves some answers from him,” said Snape. Lupin stepped towards Harry.

“Harry, will you come with me?” asked Lupin quietly. Harry took a silent step forward and Lupin took his arm.

“Good, now let’s go see the Headmaster.”

Snape walked silently behind them. Harry didn’t trust him at all right now, and he deserved to know what had been going on. He was going to make damned sure the Headmaster told Harry the truth.

Up in the Headmaster’s office, Snape sat beside Lupin, with Harry on Snape’s right, as far away from Snape as he could.

“I want you to tell him, Headmaster,” said Snape firmly.

“Severus, I can’t tell him everything,” said Dumbledore.

“I don’t care,” said Snape. “I want him to know why he’s been subjected to Draco Malfoy’s torment for the last few weeks instead of him being expelled for all he’s already done to Harry.”

Dumbledore looked pained, but resigned. He looked at Harry and laced his fingers together on the desk.

“Draco Malfoy must remain at Hogwarts for two reasons, Harry,” started Dumbledore. “First of all, the Board of Governors would never consent to his expulsion. All twelve of them must agree to it, and with Lucius Malfoy around, they will not do it.” Harry stared impassively at Dumbledore. Snape had to admit, Dumbledore’s next confession shocked even him.

“The other reason, I’m afraid is purely selfish on my part. I have it on good understanding that Mr. Malfoy is now a Death Eater. I am hoping that before he gets in too far, he will see reason and want out.”

“What?” Harry jumped to his feet, his eyes blazing. “That has got to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard!”

“Harry!” hissed Snape sharply, but Harry kept going.

“Look what that arsehole did to me! He’s nothing but Voldemort’s latest boot-licker! He’ll never change, not matter what happens!”

Harry had been inching forward during his tirade, as though he were going to attack the Headmaster, so Snape stood and held Harry’s upper arms. He gently tugged Harry backwards.

“I’m very sorry, Harry,” said Dumbledore “But I have to allow him to stay.”

~Harry’s POV~

All of a sudden, Harry felt as though he couldn’t hold himself up. He sagged against his father, unable to comprehend what Dumbledore had said. He couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t let himself believe it. Dumbledore was hoping Malfoy would change?

'Fat chance of that happening,' thought Harry. That would never happen. Draco Malfoy was pure evil and would stay that way, no matter what happened to him in Voldemort’s service.

Thank Merlin his father was there to hold him upright. He would have collapsed to the floor if it hadn’t been for Snape.

Snape began tugging him gently towards the door. Harry’s feet moved automatically with him. Lupin stood also and followed them to the door.

Outside of Dumbledore’s office, before they headed down the spiral staircase, Snape pulled Harry close into a tight hug. Harry squeezed back tightly, unable to put into words how sorry he was for thinking badly of his father.

He knew what Snape had risked by ordering Dumbledore around. He was overwhelmingly grateful to him for doing that for him. This was his father, and he wouldn’t give him up for the world.

Snape finally released him and said, “We still need to have a chat.” Harry nodded and looked down. The trio headed down the staircase.

At the bottom, Lupin said, “I think I’ll go back to my office now. Feel free to Floo if you need me.” He stood in front of Harry and looked carefully at him.

“Are you going to be all right, Harry?”

Harry nodded silently, his eyes wide.

“You’re sure?” asked Lupin.

“Yeah,” said Harry softly.

“Okay,” said Lupin and walked off. Snape wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulders and began leading him down to his office.

“Let’s go have that talk,” said Snape quietly.

Harry walked with him, knowing this would not be as bad as he thought it would be. Though his life was fated to be like this, everything would be all right in the end. He had his father now, and for now, that was all that mattered.