There was a hush when Harry entered the great hall at lunchtime the next day, arm in a sling, books for the afternoon in a satchel over his shoulder and a note from Madam Pomfrey to his teachers about what Harry could and couldn't do, in his pocket. Harry looked at the rest of the school as he entered, judging on the way the people were looking at him if it would be safe to stay for lunch.

There were many looks of outright terror on some of the younger students' faces, they clearly weren't going to cause trouble but wished Harry no good. The older students clearly were deciding if they were going to join their younger house members in terror, or shield the younger people in their houses by putting themselves in front of Harry as if the very sight of him was so terrible that it warranted hiding.

Ron and Hermione were deep in a discussion with Ginny when Harry entered the hall, their heads bend closely Ginny quickly ran to him as soon as Harry was half way down the hall. "Harry!" she exclaimed, running smack bang into Harry's injured arm. Harry winced and noticed that some of the people nearest to him were nodding, ether their fear or the disgust on their faces growing as they did so. He returned the hug that Ginny had given him lightly and patted her (rather awkwardly) on the back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ron and Hermione stand up and make their way over to him as well.

As Ron and Hermione reached the two of them Ginny pulled away from him "I'm glad that you're okay," she went back to where she had been sitting, but not before looking at the rest of the school who were still ogling Harry and clearing her throat. The other students in the school suddenly, as if they had been in a trace, went immediately back to whichever conversation Harry could only assume that they had been having before he had entered the Hall. Harry gave Ginny a grateful look and allowed Ron and Hermione to go steer him to a large empty area of the table. The other two, as soon as they had sat down, had filled Harry's plate with food and started up a new conversation ("I wonder if any members of the DA know what that was about?").

After a minute or two of failed conversation starters, Harry came back to himself "What was that?" he said as Hermione gave him an expectant look from the other side of the table.

She rolled her eyes at him and repeated the question she had asked him "I was wondering if you had any homework that you needed to get done before you get back to class?"

"No," said Harry, finally eating the food on the plate in front of him "I got it done this morning, the only thing that I have left is to read that chapter that Snape set for potions on Monday."

Ron looked at Harry shocked "I thought that you would be with me in the 'left till last minute' pile."

"Not everyone, Ronald," Hermione lectured "Has an inability to do homework more than a day before it was due. Harry here can now focus on getting through the weekend and Slughorn's party without having to worry about whether he did his homework for all of his classes."

"Yes Hermione, and how's your date?" Ron retorted, glaring.

"Not able to come with me," Hermione looked shifty at the table "He didn't respect my choice of friends."

"You mean me." Hermione looked at him in the eye and nodded slightly, Harry looked at Ron, "And you? What have people done to you?"

Ron didn't answer, only looked over at the rest of Gryffindor table where a group of sixth years, including Lavender Brown, were laughing and playing with their food. Lavender caught sight that the trio was looking at her and she gave them a haughty look. Ron, Harry and Hermione all turned away "She thought that I loved Hermione more than I loved her, that I was blind to the things that were right in front of me and that I only hung out with you to get attention." His voice sounded dejected.

Harry looked around the hall with a critical eye "You told me that some people thought I was dangerous, but I didn't think that the rest of the school had turned on me!"

"Not the whole school," Hermione corrected "Just most of the school, most of the DA members think that you're just the same old you with a few more scratches than before. I think it's the Voldemort situation all over again. Just make sure you're in full view in a week when the next full moon is, and they'll lay off and everything will go back to being normal." She sounded positive but Ron shared a look with Harry that clearly affirmed that he wasn't the only one to think that the chance of being left alone was too good to be true. "Anyway Harry," Hermione continued, clearly ether not seeing or choosing to ignore the look the boys had shared "I thought that since you hadn't been able to get a date for Slughorn's party yourself, I would set you up."

Both Harry and Ron spat out their pumpkin juice at the same time when they heard that "You did what?" Harry said not bothering to keep his voice down low enough for other people not to notice "Hermione, I can deal with going without a date to the party!"

"I thought," Hermione said, continuing on as if Harry hadn't talked at all "That you might want to look like a normal teenager at the party, get rid of some of the nastier rumours that are circulating about you and the attack."

"You did an awful lot of thinking while he was in the Hospital Wing, didn't you Hermione?" Ron commented in mock thought "Perhaps Harry here should employ you as his manager."

Hermione, to her credit, looked slightly abashed as she answered "Oh Ronald! I'm just thinking that there could be some use to dispelling rumours that have no basis, you know exactly the rumours that I am talking about and don't act ignorant!"

Harry cut in "Do I want to know the rumours that are going around?" The other two exchanged a look with each other and opened their mouths to say something when a familiar head of dark hair and another, equally familiar voice came up right next to them.

"I'm telling you Seamus, there is nothing that you can say, you are now into football and I will hear no more about it."

"But the players don't even do anything exciting in the game Dean," the Irish boy groaned "There is no point to it!"

"Says the person who so happens to wear the t-shirt we got at the game every time it's possible," the argument continued on so Harry cleared his throat in order to gain the attention of the two boys.

"Hhm!"

"But there is nothing there that I could like if I-"

"Hhm!"

"I wish you weren't so stubborn then we might get-"

"You two!"

The two other boys froze when Harry spoke, they held on their faces identical looks of surprise on his classmate's faces when they saw him were almost comical - eyes wide, mouth opened slightly and an overall look of shock, Harry braced himself for a barrage of insults but instead looking down at the table, wishing he could become one with it or better yet turn into a speck of dust on the floor. There silence for a minute, then an incredulous Seamus said "When did you get out of the Hospital Wing?"

"We thought you were dead!" piped in Dean.

Seamus looked at his friend with a look the said 'are you an idiot or what?' before turning back to Harry "I only thought that you had lost both arms and had to have replacements!"

"Well clearly," Harry said, gesturing to his body with his good hand "I got off lightly."

"The others in the year thought you weren't going to make it," Seamus continued, Ron's eyes grew wide in shock as if he knew what was coming next. Harry saw Ron shake his head slightly then look away, Seamus must have seen it as he shut up quickly. Dean on the other hand continued for him.

"Some of the other Gryffindors were thinking of turning your bed into a memorial. I think one of them even set your bed on-" Dean suddenly took an interest in the food in front of him and commented "I better tuck in otherwise I'll miss breakfast altogether!"

"And we couldn't have that," Seamus chimed in smirking. Harry though, was looking at the two of them in suspicion.

"What did they do to my bed?"

"Nothing, everything's right where it was before anything happened to your bed," Ron added, seemingly to his shepherds pie "not that anything happened to your bed" he mumbled afterwards.

"Ron..."

"Some first years may have moved you bed into the common room, some of them may have put candles and things on it so they felt better, nothing really," it was Hermione this time, defending the actions of their fellow housemates.

"So I'm going to need to move the bed back, clean off the wax and then hope that they didn't put anything else on it?" Harry hissed back at the other four who switched to looking slightly amused.

"No," Seamus winked "Why did you think that it took us so long to get to breakfast? We thought that we'd be nice and get everything ready for your return after Ron and Hermione told us that you would be back tonight so we stripped it down and made it back up."

"Problem is," Dean added "We put it back wrong so we had to get some help and some of the house isn't happy due to some things that certain people in the school were saying so we had to get some people from other houses into the common room (yes Ron they were all members of the DA) and finally got it to what we thought was the right place when someone bumped into it and it kind of fell apart."

"So I have no bed!" Harry exclaimed "Great!"

"We never said that Harry, you forget - we're wizards - we cast reparo and it fixed itself right back up to the way that it was before any of the first years messed with it. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for your pyjamas, which were damaged more than any of us knew how to repair. So we bought you new ones. They'll arrive tomorrow, in the meantime we asked some of the house elves to get you some pyjamas, the only ones they found were pink." Seamus took a deep breath "And there are flowers all over it but hay, on the bright side everything is fine."

There was a clatter of noise behind them which drew Harry's attention away from counting to ten to clear his mind of his annoyance. It seemed that someone had upset their pumpkin juice on the lap of the person next to them on purpose and their friend had bat-bogey hexed them for their troubles. Harry took a brief second while the two Ravenclaws regained their composure to look at the time "Guys, class in five minutes."

"Have you got all of your books?" Hermione asked getting up from the table with Ron, Dean and Seamus, they had failed to notice that the great hall was half empty and loosing students fast.

"Yep!" said Harry, patting the bag at his side happily. Seamus and Dean were quick to affirm that they to had grabbed their things. Ron, on the other hand, went pale "Hermione, I..."

"Ron-" Hermione was about to scold Ron about not being prepared enough for his schooling when she moved her hands to her hip before changing her tone "We better go and get your things then Ron, hadn't we?"

Harry went to follow the two of them when Hermione continued "There's no point in us all being late for Slughorn. Seamus, Dean, I know it's a bit out of your way but could you make sure that Harry gets to the dungeon please. We'll be there soon."

As the two prefects ran up the stairs Harry heard Ron comment "You've forgotten your things too, haven't you?"

Harry turned to Seamus and Dean "You don't have to come with me, I'm fine to go down to the dungeons on my own - I'm not an invalid!"

"Oh don't worry Harry, we've been meaning to find a reason to get down there so that we can try one of the passageways down there - the one at the end of the corridor - this gives us a reason to be there and a reason for being late to class," Dean chirped, starting off out of the entrance hall. Seamus clapped him on the shoulder (thankfully the uninjured one) and yelled at his friend to slow down. The two boys caught up with Dean and they set off down the corridor.

By the time that the three of them reached the potions lab, Harry knew that he was late - there was a distinct lack of people in the corridors and an extreme quiet was over the hallways. Harry thanked Dean and Seamus when they reached the door to the classroom and they quickly parted ways. Harry put his uninjured hand on the doorknob and entered the room as quietly as possible. The rest of the class were bent over their books and measuring potions ingredients as they did so.

Professor Slughorn noticed Harry when the door shut behind him with a loud 'thunk'. "Harry my boy, have a seat, we're just making drought of living death again today so you don't have to worry about overtaxing yourself. Where's Miss Granger and Mr Wesley?"

"Weasley Sir, and they're on their way - they left their books behind in the tower and only realised it when they were on the way here," Harry handed Slughorn the note that Madame Pomfrey had given him.

"No doubt they were so excited to see you again that they forgot everything else," Slughorn mumbled as he read the note. Finishing reading the note quickly he looked around the class over the top of Harry's head "You'll need someone to pair up with for a week or two"

'Or several,' Harry added in his mind, not liking where this was heading.

"We better put you with someone who has skill sin potion making, there is no point in putting you with someone who doesn't do so well, how would you learn. If Miss Granger was here then I would pair you up with her but as she is not... Malfoy?"

Malfoy looked up from his cauldron and Harry's heart fell in his chest, if he was paired with Malfoy then who knew what would happen to him, on the other hand it would mean getting closer to the Death Eater and possible he would be able to figure out his plans. Slughorn told Malfoy of Harry's predicament and Malfoy smirked, just as Harry sat down next to his arch rival, Ron and Hermione entered the room, both panting and slightly flushed.

"Sorry Professor," Hermione said as she and Ron slipped into seats halfway down the classroom "We forgot-"

"Your books, yes dear not to worry, I'm sure you'll catch up to the rest of the class in no time. Draught of Living Death if you wouldn't mind Miss Granger, perhaps you could help out Mr Wesley there with his, he might learn something off you."

The class settled down, turning around slightly, Harry could see Ron's face through the murky light of the potions classroom, it was bright red. Malfoy kicked him "So Potter, couldn't deal with not being the centre of Weasley's world? had to get poor Ronnie back from the grips of the terrible Lav Lav?"

Malfoy laughed unkindly as he set up the fire underneath the cauldron and lit it adding a drop of essence of dittany. Harry glared at him "At least I don't hide behind my father and all his death eater friends."

"You don't have a father Potter, are you delusional remember?" Malfoy put on a patronising voice "Your father, and your mother, are dead. They have no friends. Because they are dead." He dropped the act, Harry gripped onto the table with his good hand.

"And a good thing too if you ask me."

Was it Harry's imagination, or was the potion in front of the two of them bubbling a little more then it should be at the moment. Was it just a trick of the light, or did the flames on all of the potions seem to be growing in size rather fast?

"Good thing that nobody did ask you isn't it?" Harry shot back, anger almost reaching the surface. Malfoy once again smirked in the annoying way of his and added another ingredient to the potion, Harry saw him open his mouth to hit back the comment when 'BANG!' the potion next to him went up in an explosion of sticky blue liquid, drenching the two of them in itself making it hard for them to move. Harry got some up his nose, in his mouth, on his glasses. Malfoy seemed to get a mouthful of the potion.

'BANG!' the potion behind them too went up, and the potion to the front of them. People were screaming and moving out of the way of their potions. Harry tried to move but his arms and legs were heavy. Blackness, for what seemed like the millionth time in the last few weeks, circled his vision.

Another potion went up in a mass of green liquid and it smothered the two boys in substance with the consistency of concrete, it was getting harder to breathe, let alone move. To his right Malfoy fell over onto the floor, the liquids covering him seemed to crawl up to his head and covered it. Harry felt a tugging sensation and found that his strength had deserted him.

His head hit the floor.

He saw Slughorn raise his wand.

And then the world turned black.

At this point the next chapter is not written - I have to do my exams unfortunately. By the time this goes up however (I'm writing this just after I posted the last chapter) I will only have one exam left - my science 3 hour exam. I'm actually looking forwards to it.

After that exam I will be on holiday from school so I will make sure to update once a week and will write fast enough so you aren't cheated out of a chapter while I'm in England on holiday over Christmas (thank my cousin for the Christmas quote on the last chapter, we were talking Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a happy exams to all the kiwi college (high school) students : )

feel free to review