A/N: Okay, believe it or not, I've actually been working very hard on Chapter 2. It is quite a bit longer than Chapter 1. I still need a beta. Anyone? Well, enjoy Chapter 2.

Warnings: Not much in this chapter. Some more angry, depressed, slightly dark Harry. Some brief references to cutting.

Chapter 2

Friends and Enemies

Harry's head was pounding. He was sitting in the Dursley's living room, listening to his relatives try to convince Alaster Moody, Kingsley Shaklebolt and Remus Lupin that he, Harry, was a dangerous freak. Needless to say, they were having a hard time of it. The Order members, of course, were on Harry's side. Still, he couldn't help feeling worn down after an hour of the Dursley's cruel words. Words that seemed to echo with malice in his head.

"...little beast just attacked me..."

"...you people like him so much, you take him..."

"...after everything we've done for him..."

"...Mum, is he leaving soon..."

"...never wanted the little freak..."

"...we don't want him..."

Harry buried his face in his hands. The Dursleys were giving him a major headache. They didn't even seem to be getting the veiled threats behind the looks that Moody was sending their way. They just prattled on and on.

"Harry," said Lupin suddenly, "I wonder if I might talk to you in the kitchen?"

"What for?" Vernon snapped, "I've already told you everything you need to know."

"I'd really like to talk to Harry, all the same, Mr. Dursley," Lupin replied politely.

Uncle Vernon's face went purple and he stood up and started shaking his finger at Lupin. "Now see here–"

"Dursley, you're already treading on thin ice," Moody growled, "don't push your luck any further." Uncle Vernon gulped and sat back down furiously. Harry knew that Vernon was actually terrified of Moody, even more so than of Harry's "escaped convict godfather" whom Harry had conveniently forgot to mention was dead. In fact, Vernon was probably even now regretting his decision to write (or rather to have Harry write) to the Order to tell them that he couldn't keep Harry anymore.

"If he had been positive that it would be Moody who would show up, I bet he would have thought twice about that letter."

"Sure," Harry said out loud, getting up and following the werewolf into the kitchen. He was truly glad to be getting away from the Dursleys, even if he knew that he was about to be interrogated. Harry found a seat at the kitchen table and waited.

"Well Harry, how about I make us a cup of tea while we talk this all over?"

Tea? TEA! Was the man bonkers? "Honestly, why doesn't he just offer me a lemon drop while he's at it? Sometimes Lupin is as bad as Dumbledore."

"Don't bother with the tea Remus," Harry said, stumbling over the werewolf's first name. But Remus had told him to call him that last year. "Let's just get this over with."

"Oh, but surely you could use some time to collect your thoughts and a cup of tea would be–"

"I DON'T WANT ANY GOD DAMN TEA REMUS!"

Lupin raised his eyebrows at Harry's outburst, but sat down across from Harry.

"I'm sorry Remus. I just–I'm sorry."

"Not at all Harry," Remus folded his hands on the table. "Since you seem to want to get right down to it, why don't you tell me about this trouble you've been having with your relatives."

Harry shrugged. "The usual."

Remus frowned darkly. "The usual? That's an awful nasty bruise on your cheek..." he reached out to touch Harry's face, but Harry drew back in alarm.

"Yeah, whatever. Look, you heard my uncle. I attacked him. He was only defending himself."

"Why am I defending Vernon Dursley?" Harry thought bitterly, "Let Lupin think that he beats me, it would at least get me out of here."

But somehow, Harry didn't want Lupin or anyone to think that he was beaten. It was bad enough that they all knew that Harry's only living relatives despised him. Harry still felt ashamed when he thought of it, but when he was small, he had wanted the Dursleys to love him more than he wanted anything. They were his family. He had grown up with them. Part of him still wanted their love. Harry didn't think that he could stand the pitying looks that he would get if people thought that he was some kind of abused creature.

"Did he really need to hit you so hard though?" Lupin asked.

Harry snorted. "Probably not."

Lupin opened his mouth to say something else but Harry stopped him. "Listen to me Remus, I'm going to save you a lot of time and trouble here. No one ever beat me, no one ever touched me, no one ever did anything to me."

"Or anything for you apparently."

Harry suddenly felt like crying. "Remus, I just– I want to leave here. I can't stay here anymore. The Dursleys don't want me anyway."

"Harry, I'm sure that we can fix things with the Dursleys. We should be–ahh–more than capable of talking them into letting you stay for the rest of the summer."

"I don't want to stay! If it wasn't for those protective bonds based around my mother's blood, I would be out of here SO quick."

"Well, actually Harry, you could technically leave at any time. Those type of spells only take about a month or so to reinforce themselves. You've probably been in the clear for at least two weeks."

Harry blinked. "Two weeks? TWO WEEKS?"

"What? So you mean the protective spells were reinforced two weeks ago and Dumbledore was just going to leave me here? You were all just going to leave me here?"

"Of course Dumbledore just left me here," Harry thought dully, "he hasn't cared much to do it every other summer. He left me here for ten years. He could have found a wizarding family for me to stay with and just let me visit the Dursleys once a year and called it home or something. After all, that's what I've been doing at Hogwarts."

Lupin sighed. "Harry, it is complicated. The bond does get stronger the longer you stay. Besides, I'm sure that Professor Dumbledore wants you to get along with your only family. We all have your best interests at heart."

"I'LL NEVER GET ALONG WITH THEM REMUS!"

"Yeah, I just bet that they have my best interests at heart. But of course Lupin wouldn't say anything that might cast Dumbledore in a bad light. Not Dumbledore, 'the only man who ever gave him a chance'."

"Why did you hit him anyway?"

"I don't know...he said something about my parents or something."

Lupin frowned. "What did he say?"

Harry sighed. Should he tell Remus what Uncle Vernon had said about his father? If anyone would know the truth, it would be Lupin. "But he would probably tell me it wasn't true even if it was." That thought was probably at least partially true. Lupin had a tendency to gloss over the more unpleasant aspects of things, even if he wouldn't right out lie to Harry about it. But the real reason that Harry didn't want to have this conversation was that he was afraid that if he started talking about anything too personal or upsetting that he would inadvertently reveal his cutting habit. Remus Lupin was the last person that Harry wanted to find out about his new "hobby". "He would just talk about how sad my parents would be or how Sirius wouldn't want me to be this messed up over his death. Then I would just feel about a thousand times worse than I already do."

"I don't know," Harry mumbled, "he was just saying that they were freaks or something."

"Hmmm, well you know that your parents were very good people Harry and–"

"Yeah, I know," Harry cut in. He really wasn't in the mood for this conversation. "So when can I leave?"

"Tonight, I suppose."

"Good. And where will am I staying? Grimmauld Place?"

"Actually, we sort of thought that you might want to stay at the Weasleys."

Harry's face darkened. A year ago he would have been thrilled at the prospect of staying with the Weasleys for a few weeks. But now? Harry was afraid. Afraid for the people close to him. Afraid that people would target them because they were close to Harry Potter.

"I don't know if that's a good idea? Can't I just stay at Grimmauld Place?"

"You don't have to worry Harry, the Burrow is secure now."

"I don't want to stay there," Harry said stubbornly.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore thinks that it would be for the best and I have to say that I agree with him. It'll be good for you to be around a big family like that. If you stayed at Grimmauld Place, you'd only get depressed."

"What makes you think I'm depressed?" Harry asked sharply. He didn't want people thinking that he was depressed.

"You just seem...not yourself. So will you go...?"

"YES, Remus!" Harry snapped. "I'll go. I'm sure that you and Dumbledore and the Order only have my best interests at heart." Harry's voice was dripping with bitterness.

Lupin looked ready to say something else but Harry cut him off again. "I'll go get my things."

It was so late by the time Harry arrived at the Burrow that everyone had already gone to bed, with the exception of Mrs. Weasley who appeared to be waiting for Harry to arrive.

"Harry, dear," she said, getting up from her comfy looking chair and coming over to hug Harry tightly.

Harry pushed her away a bit too abruptly. "How are you Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked sounding very distant and formal.

"I'm well Harry," she replied looking rather confused. "Just been worrying about you dear."

Harry scowled. Lupin, having brought Harry, was now standing beside him and he and Mrs. Weasley were giving each other looks over Harry's head. Looks that meant something about him. It was like Mrs. Weasley was asking about him and Remus was telling her that things weren't so good but that Harry should be humored. Harry felt he was being talked about behind his back. Or more like they thought he was three years old and wouldn't notice what the grownups said to each other over his head.

Harry had to bite back his anger. "I'm really very tired," he said loudly, "do you think that I could go to bed."

"Of course dear," Mrs. Weasley said immediately, looking back at Harry. "You'll be staying with Ron, of course, you know where his room is."

"I'll get your trunk for you Harry," Remus said taking out his wand.

"No, that's all right Remus. I have my pajamas in my backpack and here's Hedwig's cage. I can just get the trunk in the morning."

"Oh...okay."

Harry left Lupin and Mrs. Weasley to talk about him for real and slowly began to climb the stairs.

"I guess that they're in there planning the next few days of my life out for me. What gives everyone the right to think that they can just move me around wherever and whenever they want? What do they think? 'Oh we're starting to feel guilty about leaving the poor little orphan boy who is supposed to save us all with the world's biggest creeps. A few days with the Weasleys will make everything all better again. Reverse all that damage. That way our consciences will be clear'" Harry knew that he was being irrational and melodramatic. He should be thrilled to be staying at the Weasleys, just like those other summers. But Harry was just so tired of people doing things to him without his permission. Tired of not having anyone. Tired of being used. Tired of being a tool and not a person.

"After I fulfill that prophecy, if I don't die in the process, I won't mean anything to anyone."

By the time that Harry made it up to Ron's room he was furious. He banged open the door abruptly and threw himself down onto the spare bed without saying a word to Ron who was still awake and was reading a Chudley Canons book.

"Well hello to you too," Ron sniffed.

Harry grunted something unintelligible in reply. "I knew that you were coming sometime tonight," Ron went on bravely, "Mum told me. I've been up waiting."

"Well I'm here," Harry snapped. He was starring straight up at the ceiling and clutching his arm in an odd matter.

"Yeah..." Ron trailed off uneasily.

"I think I'd like to go to sleep now," Harry had now adopted his detached manner.

"Yeah...alright Harry," Ron reluctantly turned off the lights and got into bed. "Harry?" Ron voiced into the darkness. Harry didn't reply. "I know what you're doing, you know." Still, Harry remained silent. "You're trying to push away all your friends because you think that you don't deserve them or that they'll end up dying and it'll be your fault."

Harry's breath caught. That was unusually perceptive of Ron.

"At least that's what Hermione said."

"Ahhhhh, I see." Harry thought.

"I just wanted to let you know that we knew. And that...well, we're your friends Harry. Goodnight." Ron seemed very awkward. Harry still didn't reply but Ron didn't seem to mind.

After a minute or two, Harry heard his friend gently snoring. Harry stared into the darkness. He wasn't really sleepy, he had just told everyone that because he didn't want to talk. Harry hadn't been sleeping all that well lately. When he was in the bed, trying to sleep was when the dark thoughts hit him the hardest.

"I was so rude..."

Harry felt guilty. What kind of person was he? He had raged and snapped at Remus, treated Mrs. Weasley like a total stranger and acted like Ron was a disease. Harry didn't want to act like a git, he knew that these people cared about him, they just didn't get it.

The reason that Harry had treated his friends like strangers was that, in a way, they felt like strangers. Ever since Dumbledore had told Harry about the prophecy, he felt very separate from everyone and everything that he once cared about. Quiditch, DA meetings, Chocolate Frog cards, friends, fun; these things were all part of the old Harry. The new Harry had a high destiny, but happiness, love, or hope were not part of the equation. The new Harry was numb and alone.

"I still shouldn't have been so rude to everyone. They've never been anything but kind and generous to me and they get their heads bitten off in return." Tears began to well up in Harry's eyes and he suddenly wished that he had told Remus to float his trunk up after all. He could use that razor.

"Harry! Harry!" Ron's voice jolted Harry out of his sleep.

"Wha–" Harry mumbled groggily as he reached over and fumbled for his glasses on the large orange night stand.

Ron was sitting on the edge of Harry's bed. "You should probably get up, our Hogwarts letters are here and they have our O.W.L results in them. Besides it's two o'clock in the afternoon. You must have been really tired."

"Uhh...yeah...well," for the first time Harry noticed that Ron was fully dressed and that from the light outside, it was definitely the middle of the day. "Have you opened yours yet?"

"Yeah, I wanted to wait for you to wake up, but I just had to know! I got six O.W.L.s. Since Harry had woken up, Ron had been looking at him like he expected Harry to start screaming at him or something.

Harry smiled reassuringly at his best friend. He had almost forgotten how good it felt to smile. "That's great Ron. Well, where is mine. Might as well get it over with." Harry hadn't really thought about his O.W.Ls all summer, it was hard for him to think about school things when he was at the Dursleys but now that he was thinking of it, he was very nervous. Harry still had the dream of being an Auror when he got out of Hogwarts.

"Potions is my problem," he thought. "In all my other subjects, I should score high enough. Sure, Transfiguration is tough, but I only have to get an E and with all my studying I should be able to pull it off. But an O in Potions? And who's to say that Snape will let me in his class even if I do make the grade?"

"Here," said Ron, handing Harry his letter. Harry ripped it open and looked down at the sheet containing his O.W.L. scores. Harry had expected to see each subject listed followed by the letter score that he had received. What he saw instead was a confusing array of numbers, symbols and charts which seemed to analyze his test in every way possible. To make matters worse they were scrawled across the page in all different directions, rather like the Daily Prophet.

"I wonder what a "percentile ranking" is," Ron muttered, looking over Harry's shoulder.

Harry finally saw his letter scores all lined up. They didn't look that bad. Harry's eyes darted across the page to see which grade belonged to which subject. His heart nearly stopped when he saw that in "Pot Prac" he had only made a very high E. He only started breathing again when he saw that he had made a high enough O in "Pot Wrt" to pull his overall Potions score up to an O.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "The slimy creep will have to let me in now. I made the grade." Harry was that he had also barely scraped an O in Transfiguration and gotten a very high O in Defense. Overall, he had managed to get eight O.W.L.s.

"Not bad at all..."

"How'd you do?" Ron asked.

"Great, I got an O in Potions so I'll be able to take the N.E.W.T. level classes."

Ron's mouth dropped. "And you're actually happy about that? I got an A in Potions so I'll get the O.W.L., but if I had to take two more years of Snape then I would probably just drop out."

Harry actually laughed, he felt the best that he had in ages. "Yeah, but according to McGonagall, I need Potions to get into the Auror's program."

"Oh, yeah. Oh, geez, I just thought of something. Hermione probably got like twenty O.W.L.s or something and she's probably writing us right now to tell us all about it."

Harry and Ron groaned.

A month later, Harry stood on Platform 9 3/4 with the Weasleys and reflected on the last few weeks. Despite his reluctance, staying with the Weasleys really had been good for him. Harry really only became depressed and self-destructive when he was left alone with no one or nothing else to think of. At the Weasleys, everything was in a constant state of activity and Harry was surrounded by people working, talking, playing. Harry was able to push any dark thoughts into the back of his mind. They were still there, waiting for the right time to emerge, but they were at the back core of Harry's mind, not the forefront. He had only cut himself once the whole time he was at the Burrow. It had become almost a daily habit at the Dursleys.

Harry was looking around for any sign of Hermione whom he hadn't seen all summer, but it was impossible to see far in the den of students and Ron didn't seem all that eager to find her.

"C'mon Harry, let's get on the train already," Ron said, tugging on his friend's arm.

Harry and Ron had boarded the train and were looking for a compartment (Ron wanted near the back) when Harry felt someone in the crowded train bump into him and heard the distinct voice of Draco Malfoy. "Why don't you watch where you're walking Potter?"

Harry and Ron turned around to see Malfoy starring at him. He wasn't flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as usual, but had Theodore Nott standing nearby. "Shut up Malfoy. You bumped into him," Ron seethed.

Malfoy's eyes snapped over to Ron. "Nice shirt Weasley," he smirked as he took in the rather worn blue T-shirt that was Ron's favorite, "did you buy it at the same Muggle flea market where you picked up Granger?"

Ron's face turned bright red and he looked ready to launch himself at Malfoy. "Shut it Malfoy, you are so beyond lame," Harry said walking away and dragging Ron along with him.

Malfoy had a rather strange tone to his voice. "Clumsy, clumsy Harry Potter, if you don't stop being so careless you might just have an accident."

Harry turned around to find Malfoy starring at him with a very strange expression on his face. He had never seen quite that gleam in the little ferret's eyes before. His voice was no longer obnoxious and childish, but lethal. He looked even more like his father than Harry had ever noticed before. "It isn't a game or a schoolboy grudge for him anymore. He's dead serious. Wait a minute? Am I afraid of Malfoy? Nah." Harry managed to find an empty compartment near the back and the boys entered and sat down.

"Malfoy is SUCH a STUPID GIT!" Ron was still bristling about the insult to Hermione.

"I think that he could actually be dangerous."

"What?" Ron said distractedly.

"I mean, I think Malfoy might really try to get me. He's furious that I helped put his father in prison and did you see the way he looked at me just now? Plus, at the end of last year, he looked right at me and said "You're dead Potter," or something like that. He was sort of serious too."

"Hmmm..." Ron appeared to think for a moment, "hmmm..." Ron's face lit up, Harry supposed at the joy of jumping to a conclusion about Malfoy. "You're probably right, Harry. Hey do you think he helped bust his father out of prison?"

"I don't know...he would have if he could have. But I don't know if he could manage it."

"Yeah..." Ron appeared to be disappointed.

"All the same, I think that we should keep an eye on Malfoy. There's just something not quite right about him this year."

"You know, we should probably keep an eye on all the Death Eater's children. I bet that Crabbe or Goyle or that Theodore Nott would love to get their hands on you. You put their fathers in prison too, you know."

"Yeah," said Harry, but before he could continue, Neville Longbottom came in and began making small talk. After that, there was a stream of people in and out of the compartment for a good while. At some point, Harry bought about half the candy on the trolley and shared with anyone who came in. Eventually, Harry and Ron were left alone again and they began picking over the remaining sweets.

"Ummm, I wouldn't eat that mate," Ron chuckled when he saw Harry grab several of what looked to be toffees.

"Why not?"

"Read the label."

Harry turned a toffee over in his hand and read the small print. "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Wow, they really are getting successful!"

"Successful? They're going to be bloody filthy rich," Ron replied around a mouthful of chocolate. "And they never even finished school! I think Mum's still mad at them about that, even though they're making tons of money now."

Harry laughed loudly. At that moment, a familiar voice in the doorway said "Ronald!"

Ron cringed. Harry looked around to see his other best friend quickly advancing on Ron. "Why weren't you up front with the other prefects for the prefects meeting? I've been looking all over for you and here I find you pigging out!"

"I, umm, forgot?"

Harry smiled, so that's why Ron wanted to sit in the back and didn't want to find Hermione. Hermione glared at the redhead.

"Oh come on Hermione, those meetings are the most boring things in the world. Besides, if I went then they would just try to assign me work"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, you are a prefect, remember?"

"The only reason that most of the other prefects go is because that's where all the good gossip is. But I don't care about such girlish things."

Hermione snorted in disdain. "Fine, then you won't care if I don't tell you all the juicy gossip that I heard."

Ron looked at her uncertainly. "Oh, come on. You'll tell us won't you?" Hermione merely looked at him haughtily. "Oh, all right. I'm interested in your stupid gossip! Satisfied?"

"Quite," Hermione sniffed, sitting down and taking a long time to compose herself. "Well, let's see...Blaise Zabini and Lavender Brown are going out."

"As in Blaise Zabini from Slytherin and Lavender Brown from Griffindor?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded and Harry shrugged. He had always like Zabini better than most of the Slytherins, but that wasn't saying much.

"And Filch took Mrs. Norris to this magical pet groomer to get rid of her fleas and they kind of made her...pretty, without Filch's permission.

"Pretty?" Ron asked.

"Let's just say pink and fluffy."

Harry and Ron's eyes widened.

"Oh, and they're saying that one of the first years on the train is Professor Snape's son."

Ron's mouth dropped open. "Wait, back up. Snape has a son?"

"Is Snape married?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Hermione replied thoughtfully.

"Snape has a son?" Ron repeated.

"Yes Ron, I just said that."

"What's his name? What does he look like?" Harry was curious.

"I don't know. I don't know any details."

"SNAPE has a SON!"

"Yes Ron. Get over it, already," said Hermione, rolling her eyes at him.

"Did you know that he had a son?" Ron asked, still reeling from shock.

"No, apparently no one but a few of the Slytherins knew."

"Well I guess that's just one more mini-Death Eater for us to watch," Ron said.

"What does that mean?" Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, we're watching all the Death Eater's kids because Malfoy's been giving Harry funny looks."

"Well, it sounds really dumb when he says it like that," Harry thought.

Hermione looked like she thought it sounded dumb too. "Professor Snape is not a Death Eater, Ron. He's on our side. Right Harry?"

Harry didn't answer. He was honestly very confused about Snape's loyalties. The man seemed like the archetypal dark wizard and he certainly hated Harry, but he had also seemingly gone out of his way to look after Harry several times. Harry didn't know if Snape was really loyal to Voldemort, but he wasn't willing to rule out the possibility either.

"Besides, the kid is ELEVEN, Ron. He doesn't even know Wingardium Leviosa yet. I hardly think that he's a threat to Harry."

"Harry defeated Voldemort when he was eleven." Ron was being stubborn.

As they continued to quarrel, Harry absent-mindedly unwrapped a toffee and popped it into his mouth. Harry was at least mildly surprised when his head promptly burst into flame. Harry yelped in surprise, the spell didn't hurt, he just felt a slight crackling in his ears, but it was alarming all the same. Hermione looked over at him and shrieked, but Ron merely laughed. After about five seconds, the flames disappeared completely.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," Ron explained at Hermione's confused look. "Harry bought them off the trolley."

"Oh, honestly. How did they even get the train station to buy and sell those ghastly things?"

"You don't want to know..." Ron muttered.

Within a few minutes, the train arrived at its destination and the students got off and began milling around again.

"Look at the little runts!" said Ron pointing to the first years who were clustered around Hagrid. "Can you believe that we were ever that small?"

Harry laughed. "No, not really." Just then, the smallest of the first years turned and caught Harry's eye. The look that he gave Harry was not the typical first year terror or excitement. Nor was it even a look that most eleven year olds could manage. It was calm and rather calculating. Like those dark eyes were sizing Harry up. Harry couldn't repress a slight shudder, he knew where he had seen that look and those eyes before.

"Snape's eyes..."

"Snape's son..."

Teaser, Chapter 3:

"I don't have a problem, Minerva. It's just that...others...might." Snape whispered, rather angrily.

Professor McGonagall's eyebrows shot up. "Others?" Then something seemed to dawn on her. "Oh yes, I see what you mean."

A/N: Okay, I know that I put Snape as one of the main characters and he's GOING to be, I promise. He should start showing up in the next chapter. I just had to set it all up.