Notes: Good lord I love to update.

CHAPTER 4: LEFT ALL ALONE

"Harry! Harry!" Ron shook Harry awake.

Harry looked at him blearily for a moment, then realized where he was. His pillow felt soft against the back of his head. He didn't want to lift it.

"Oh, come on" Ron said, annoyed, "it's the first day of classes. I don't want to go either."

Harry sat up, blissfully aware of the pain shooting from his left wrist. He took his glasses from his dresser and put them on. He turned toward his best friend.

"Just give me a moment to dress, Ron," he said calmly. Ron looked at him strangely but left the dormitories.

Harry rolled up his left sleeve and smiled. Eight deep red scratches, all criss-crossed were painted beautifully across his wrist. He fingered them slowly.

When Ron's impatient voice rang on the other side of the door however, he began to dress. He took off his pajamas and threw on black jeans, a black T-shirt and his robes. He grabbed his wand and books, and headed out the door. Ron looked at him angrily. "We've already missed half of breakfast waiting for you"

"Oh, come off it." Harry snapped.

They were greeted in the common room by Hermione. "Let's go, then." Her face was pale.

"You alright, Herm?" Ron asked worriedly.

"Fine." Her voice was solemn. Harry stared at her, and she stared right back, a menacing glint in her eye.

"LETS GO then!" she said louder then she meant to, and whipped around. Ron and Harry looked at each other but headed after her.

Breakfast was fairly normal, but as Ron said, they'd missed half of it, so the second-youngest Weasley wasted no time talking as he stuffed his mouth with food. Hermione leered at him from across the table.

"Ron that is disgusting." Hermione growled.

"Who pissed in your coffee this morning, Hermione?" he retorted.

"For your information, Ronald, I don't drink coffee."

"Oh, right, like-

"Hermione! Ron!" Harry said rather exasperatedly, tired of their constant, unexplained arguments,"why don't we check out our schedules?" Ron wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and started digging around in his robe pocket for his.

Hermione shot him a death glare but opened hers. Ron looked at his schedule and then looked at Hermione's and Harry's.

"Double potions with the Slytherins for all of us. Then Harry and I have Transfiguration."

Harry, Hermione and Ron sat at their desks, anxiously awaiting Snape, wanting to get this class over with as soon as possible. They were almost relaxed when they heard Malfoy's drawling voice behind them.

"Potter, Weasley, and Miss time-of-the-month" he smirked as Hermione's face turned red with rage, "amazing. How did you lot make into sixth year potions?" he paused for a moment, "Granger with her mudblood abnormalities no doubt, I'm wondering about you two."

"For your information Malfoy, we both got O's in-

"MR. WEASLEY!" Snape's ear-shattering shout came from the back of the classroom, "twenty points from Gryffindor for distracting Mr. Malfoy."

Ron glared at Draco as the blonde Slytherin swept arrogantly back to his desk. Harry stared straight ahead at the wall. He was listening to this ordeal, but he found no reason to partake in it. He was lost in his thoughts, his terrifying memories. His uncle, thrusting into him further with each powerful push-

"Mr. Potter, what is the key ingredient in the Pepper-up Potion?" Harry realized he'd been lost in thought for quite a while.

"Um…" he said blankly for a moment, "…pepper?" A few Gryffindors appreciated this small attempt at a joke. Slytherins snickered. Snape's black eyes flashed with rage.

"While your idiocy never ceases to amaze me Mr. Potter, I am still forced to punish you. Detention, 7:00 tomorrow night. Lateness will not be tolerated."

Harry expected a burning to rise in his cheeks, or even spiteful words to make their way out ofhis mouth. Instead, his face stayed the same, staring blankly and disinterestedly at Snape.

"As blunt as that mutt of a godfather you have." Snape said. Gryffindors gasped. The Slytherins didn't snicker in particular, even for their head of house it went a little too far.

Harry wanted to slug Snape in the face.

Hermione shot to her feet and opened her mouth to say something. "Silence, Ms. Granger. Unless you want an embarrassingly low mark in potions, I suggest you sit down." She paled and sat down defiantly.

Snape stared at Harry. He had expected something from that comment. He knew he had way over-stepped the line, and was surprised at the fact that Harry didn't whip his wand out and start casting unforgivables in every direction.

Harry's face remained blank. I need my blade. I wish I had my blade.

That night, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat over Charms homework, an argument was beginning to boil.

"Honestly, do they insist on burying us in homework?" Ron whined. Harry gave him leverage. The complaint was fair enough.

"Ronald, if you never do your homework, you'll never get high marks. If you don't get high marks, you'll never make it anywhere in the wizarding world! How irresponsible are you?" Hermione hissed back.

Ron stood up. "Alright Hermione, what is it? What has you so worked up? You've been in a bitch mood since the Hogwarts Express!"

"I'll tell you what IT is!" she screamed, "I'M PREGNANT!"

Ron's face went white.

R to the E to the V to the I to the E to the W.

Xox

-A