A/N: oh wow reviews! Thank you all so much, it's so fun waking up and checking your e-mail and finding reviews. Hah, here's a new fun chapter, featuring everyones favorite bitches, Ron and Hermione. How will our darling Harry cope?

Oh and TeeDee pointed out that at the end of the last chapter I call Harry a lamp. I'm very sorry, I meant to type lamb. Harry I'm sorry I called you a lamp. I repeat, Harry is not a lamp, he is an ex-lamb.

That is all, now here is your chapter.

Dumbledore's tiresome monologue ended quickly enough. Harry sighed in relief and glanced back at the Slytherin table where Draco looked murderous, Blaise looked confused, Pansy was mildly irritated, and Milly was simultaneously trying to calm down Draco and smile comfortingly at Harry. It was quiet a sight.

"Harry!" Someone shrieked. Suddenly someone was hugging him tightly and there was a bush of curly brown hair in his eyes. The girl pulled back at beamed at him. Harry felt his heart leap into his throat and his stomach sink, he knew this girl. She was his friend, she was the one who told Dumbledore he was a spy. Hermione…her name was Hermione. For a moment emotions completely overwhelmed Harry, he simultaneously wanted to cry, scream, hit her, run away, and laugh.

Instead Harry settled for a grin and asked, "Who are you?"

"Harry?" She gasped, "It's me, Hermione!"

"Um, sorry I just can't remember much from before….So who are you?"

"You…don't remember?" Hermione said with dread, and then her face bloomed into a smile. "Oh, Harry you poor thing! Ron and I were so angry when Dumbledore said you were a spy! We even came to your trial and testified for you!"

"You did?" Harry said, with wide innocent eyes and a smile, "That was so brave of you!"

"I can't believe they put you in Azkaban! Oh are you alright, Harry?"

"I'm fine, I just don't remember much about Hogwarts or Azkaban," as always a shiver ran down his spine whenever anyone mentioned Azkaban.

"Well stay away from those nasty Slytherins," Hermione told him in a hushed tone. "I bet it was that horrible Draco Malfoy who spread all those rumors about you, him and those nasty Slytherins."

Harry just barely managed to resist the urge to punch her right in the lip. "Who're the Slytherins?"

"Omigod Harry!" Another girl shrieked. Suddenly there was a petite redhead latched to his shoulders. "We missed you so much!"

Harry smiled and patted her head gently, "Do I know you?"

"Harry, it's me! Ginny!"

Images flashed through Harry's mind. This girl, this Ginny, carrying his photo album and tossing it into the fire, giggling and laughing, shrieking about how Harry deserved to die, he deserved to rot in Azkaban for lying to all of them. And then suddenly he was in the present, desperate to push this disgusting bitch of him and run as far away as he possibly could.

"Ginny, he doesn't remember," Hermione whispered.

"Ooooh," Ginny whispered back grinning, "So we can just tell him whatever?"

"Yeah, everything will be just like it used to be."

"Harry, I'm Ginny," She said loudly to Harry, "Do you remember me?"

"Not really," Harry managed to grin out between clenched teeth.

"Oh, Harry I'm so happy they realized you were innocent! We all missed you so much!" She gushed.

"Harry?" Another red head asked, this one was a boy…this was….Ron.

"Hi," Harry said carefully, "Who are you?"

"D-Don't you remember me? It's me! Ron! Your best friend!"

Harry smiled blankly and shook his head, "Sorry, I can't remember much, but you'll be my friend right?"

"Of course!" Ron sighed in relief, hugging his friend tightly, thanking whatever god he believed in that Harry didn't remember.

And so Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, wedged between Ron and Hermione, half listening to them talk about the past. For a moment Harry felt a tinge to regret, he almost wished he could still be friends with these people, he almost wished he could just pretend that the fire have never happened.

But then he remembered parts fire, the screams, his own screams, as he watched them giggle and burn everything he own, his glasses, his clothes, his books, photographs. They killed his owl, they stabbed it and then threw the corpse at him.

He gagged and then covered his nausea with a laugh. He had to make them believe he was still a victim. They would never know that Harry knew he'd been betrayed by his best friends.

Finally the feast ended and Harry was caught up in a pack of Gryffindors and shuffled to Gryffindor Tower. It seemed like none of them minded he had been sitting at the Slytherin table, they all chalked it up to Harry's memory loss. By the end of dinner, everyone at Hogwarts knew Harry lost his memory.

As Harry sat in the common room being fawned over by his old friends, asking him questions, talking to him, apologizing for what happened. Harry could see the sparkle of guilt in their eyes, he sensed the tiny awkward pauses. They all knew what they'd done and not one of them was human enough to even say 'I'm sorry'.

Professor McGonagall entered the common room, asking to speak with Harry. The dark haired teen followed her to her office. "Harry, I understand you don't remember what happened?"

"What happened when?"

"Before your trial…when…when…" McGonagall trailed off.

Harry wanted to tell her yes, yes he knew what happened, he knew his friends betrayed him. Everyone he trusted betrayed him. But instead Harry with a dark, twisted sense of pride said with a smile and glint in his eyes, "No, Professor, should I remember something?"

"No, no, Harry. It is nothing that needs to be remembered."

Coward, Harry seethed. You think I don't know, you would just let me be eaten by those monsters! "Great professor, I'll see you tomorrow in class."

"Goodnight Harry," She said with a heavy voice, her conscious was crawling over her skin, guilt gnawing at her mind. "Goodnight."

Harry slipped out of her office and took off down the hall, going the opposite way from Gryffindor tower. He found himself wondering down a hallway, and suddenly he realized, he didn't remember where he was. He was completely lost.

He needed to find Quetzal too, Remus said he'd take care of the little hybrid and Harry was beginning to really miss the little guy. Harry sighed and looked around, the hall was decorated with paintings, he had an odd feeling about them, like there was something odd about them.

"Are you lost?" A voice asked.

Harry yelped and jumped around to see a painting of a woman talking to him, "Er, hello?"

"Oh, are you a first year?"

"No, my names Harry,"

"Harry Potter!" The painting gasped, "You look so….cute."

"Oh thank you?"

"Here, darling, are you lost?"

"Yeah, I can't remember much about Hogwarts, so I don't really know where to go." Harry explained.

"Well where are you trying to get?"

"I'm trying to find Sev-Professor Snape."

"Just go down this hall and you'll see a huge stairway, just go down and turn down the left hallway," She smiled at him, "If you need help just ask a painting."

Harry thanked the woman and followed her instructions. He saw the stairs when he heard voices coming towards him. Glancing around desperately, an arm grabbed Harry's collar and suddenly the teen was yanked into the dark. Harry gasped and spun around to find Draco glaring at him.

"Draco!' Harry yelped, "What was that for?
"Shush!" Draco whispered. He placed an ear against the door of the closet they were in, Harry crouched on the ground and also listened at the door.

"We can't trust him!" A loud male voice insisted.

"Be quiet Ron! Someone might hear you," it was Hermione.

"He's still a spy, I know he is! He betrayed us!" Ron insisted.

"Ron he doesn't remember anything! Not the fire, not us. This is our chance to start over again! We can be friends again. You know how Harry is, he always tries to save his friends, we can live through this whole war as long as we're on his side."

"But what if Voldemort wins?"

"Then we crawl to him on our hands and knees and told him we were trying to help him. We'll say we tried to put Harry in Azkaban so he wouldn't make trouble for him." Hermione insisted, "Listen, Ron, I've got it all thought out."

"Bitch," Draco snarled quietly.

Harry had to agree. Even though he was essentially doing the same thing to Ron and Hermione it still stung to know they were using him. "Shush, Draco, they're still talking."

"Fine, Hermione, but I still don't trust him."

"You don't have to, but watch him closely. If we can find anything, anything that seems suspicious about Harry we should tell Thomas. Then he can take care of it."

"I wonder where he went, though." Ron mused.

"Who cares? He's not our friend anymore, Ron. This is a war, and it's every man for himself." Hermione lectured angrily, she continued down the hall towards Gryffindor tower.

"But Hermione, you're a girl."

"You're missing the point." Hermione sighed.

Their voices grew fainter and fainter until neither Draco nor Harry could hear anything. The hall was silent. Draco opened the door and peeked into the hall, it was empty. He and Harry emerged from the closet in silence.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Draco sighed.

The boy who lived just grinned, "Don't be, I'm lying to them as well. Besides, I don't remember much about them before the fire."

The blonde rolled his eyes, "Well I'm glad you told them you don't want anything more to do with them."

Harry cocked his head at Draco, "No, I pretended I didn't remember anything about them betraying me."

Draco's mouth dropped and his eyes widened to the size of melons, "You what!"

"As long as they think I don't remember anything, they won't be suspicious of my actions."

"But Harry that's just stupid! Why would they be suspicious!"

"Draco someone set me up as a spy, someone planted evidence, and someone convicted me. Someone in my house must've been involved. There's something big going on here, Draco. This goes beyond Voldemort and I, I don't know what it is. But something terrible has happened at Hogwarts."

Harry nervously crossed his arms over his chest and shivered slightly. This new development frightened him, he had to act extra-stupid around Ron and Hermione, they were looking for some reason to get him. But who was this Thomas?

A sudden warmth across his shoulders surprised the small teen out of his thoughts. Harry looked up to find himself pressed against Draco's warm body. "Draco?"

The blonde smirked and ruffled the smaller teens dark curls, "Stop thinking so much. All we can do is watch and wait, every thing will fall into place."

"I hope so," Harry said quietly.

"I won't let them hurt you…not again." Draco murmured. "C'mon. You can stay in Slytherin for the night, I don't trust those Gryffindors."

"Neither do I," The smaller teen agreed. Harry glanced over his shoulder at the long empty hallway behind them. As he and Draco walked towards Slytherin tower, Harry got a terrible feeling that someone was watching them. Someone knew Draco cared about Harry.

Harry sighed and relaxed against Draco's arm, "I won't let them hurt you either." He whispered.

"Did you say something?" Draco asked.

"No, you must be hearing things."

XoXoXo

The next morning no one at the Gryffindor table mentioned that Harry spent the night outside of the dorm, either they hadn't noticed or had chose not to notice. It was their first day of classes, and Harry honestly didn't remember what he was supposed to do so Ron and Hermione shuffled him around from class to class. Harry pretended to be silly and cute and they pretended they gave a damn about him. There were a few instances where their emotions were actually genuine and it was those moments that stung Harry's heart. He wanted so badly, for reasons he didn't quiet understand, to be friends with these two people.

The morning was boring, dull classes, it was only after lunch that the day became interesting. Their first class was potions, which was with the Slytherins. Snape was teaching and he was paticuliarly cruel to Ron and Hermione. Harry hid his grins behind his hand.

Snape asked him and Draco to stay after class. Harry told Ron and Hermione he'd meet them in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Harry," Snape growled, "Why are you speaking to them!"

"I told them I didn't remember anything."

"…You don't do you?"

"Bits and pieces, mostly about the fire," Harry said calmly. "Milly told me what happened."

"Oh," Snape sighed. "Wouldn't it be easier if you just ignored them?"

Harry grinned, "Of course! But it's not just about them, as long as everything thinks I've completely lost my memory, they'll be less suspicious of me. And then I'll be able to figure out who set me up."

Snape shook his head, "Clearly it was just an accident, Harry. We are at war…and during war people become more paranoid and judgmental then usual. Your incarceration was an unfortunate accident."

"No it wasn't!" The small Gryffindor insisted, eyes blazing, "There is something going on here, some plot! Me and Draco heard Hermione talking last night, she told Ron to watch me for any suspicious behavior, if they saw anything weird about me, she said they'd tell Thomas."

Severus' face paled.

"Sev, whose Tomas?"

The potions master shrugged, "Thomas Rhapsody has been our DADA teacher since last year. He might be who they're referring to."

"Is there any way that Rhapsody is involved with Voldemort?" Harry asked, the teen began to pace across the stone floor, mind working at lightning speed. Draco watched the smaller teen with mild interest. Since they're come to Hogwarts Draco was beginning to see that Harry was smarter then he acted, he did still have that hero-complex, but Harry had a rather keen mind.

"I doubt it," Snape confessed, "But he is probably working for the ministry."

"So is the ministry out to get, Harry?" Draco sighed.

Snape glared at Draco "Again I doubt it. The Ministry already looks bad for wrongly incarcerating him, they wouldn't try and cause Harry harm." Dread was growing in the pit of Severus' stomach, he was lying outright to the teens. The ministry was infamous for dealing with wizards that challenged it, wizards like Harry. It was clear that Harry would be a great wizard, a great wizard with a dangerous disregard for the rules. The ministry either employed such wizards, or destroyed them.

"I hope not," Draco growled.

"Sev, do you know anything else about Rhapsody?"

"He's dangerous, Harry, very dangerous. He's not one to be trusted." Snape sighed, "You should go to your next class, you're late already."

"Snape, is Remus taking care of quetzal?" Harry asked nervously, "I'd feel much better if I had her back."

Severus smiled, "She's fine, once things calm down a bit and things aren't so new, you should be fine to keep her with you."

"Okay, thanks, Sev!" Harry called, and then added to Draco, "C'mon slow poke."

"I am not slow, Harry! Stop being mean to me."

"Consider it revenge!" Harry laughed as they walked out of the potions classroom. "Where are we going?"

The blonde smirked and instructed, "Third floor, last door on the hall."

"What're you smirking about?"

"I'm taller then you are."

Harry elbowed him in the ribs, "Shaddup."

"Well I'm just stating a fact!" Draco sniggered, giving Harry a little shove.

"At least I have more hair then you!"

Draco rolled his eyes, "all right, girly boy."

"You're just jealous you don't have lustrous, thick hair like mine!" The smaller teen teased, flipping his hair over one shoulder.

"Why don't you cut it?" Draco asked, toying with a curl.

"I dunno," Harry shrugged, "It makes me look different then I used to…and I don't want anybody to think I'm the same as I was before."

"Trust me you're not." Draco grinned.

"Really?"

"Yeah, before you were the same height as me!"

"Alright I get it, I'm short!" Harry announced with a laugh.

The two teenagers slipped into the classroom and sat at an empty table at the end of the room. For a few moments they thought Rhapsody hadn't noticed they were late and then, "But never mind we have some late-comers! Well don't be shy, come to the front of the room."

Harry sauntered off and Draco followed with a wince.

"Mr. Malfoy, I thought you were more responsible," Rhapsody said sadly. "Look at you, missing class with your girlfriend."

Giggles, gasps, and full out cackles ruffled through the room.

"Actually I'm Harry Potter," Harry explained, "And I'm pretty sure I'm not Mr. Malfoy's girlfriend, am I?" He looked out at the classroom with a grin, waiting for an answer. There were shouts of dismay, disgust, and laughter. "Well I guess I'm not."

"You're Harry Potter?" Thomas Rhapsody purred, "It's a pleasure to meet the famed Harry." He offered a hand which Harry daintily shook while he surveyed the new teacher. Rhapsody was young, thirty at the oldest, he had wavy black hair that fell over one dark, unreadable eye. He was handsome, despite the dark circles under his eyes that his pale skin only accented.

"I'm really not all that famed," Harry said coyly.

"Will you stay a few minutes after class?"

Harry nodded politely and turned to walk back to his table when Rhapsody said, "Stay, Harry, I'd like you for a demonstration."

Draco glared at Rhapsody, but walked back to the table alone, watching the front of the room intently.

"As I was saying, class, since this is your last year as students before you go out into the world, I want to teach you how to practically use magic to fight back against the Dark Lord, so this year we'll be focusing more on offense as opposed to defense like last year. Now Mr. Potter, let's say I'm a death eater, what do you do?"

Harry elegantly raised an eyebrow, "Run away?"

"Wrong answer," the professor smirked. He shouted something and a large ball of red flame was hurling towards Harry. The teen yelped and dropped to the ground. Another ball quickly followed and Harry rolled across the floor, and fumbled with his wand.

"As we can see, Harry was not prepared to defend himself, and so I have caught him off guard, one of the key to a good attack is to catch your opponent off guard," Thomas stated, "Well take notes!"

Harry pointed his wand at Rhapsody and suddenly realized he didn't actually remember any spells. He focused on the professor and thought quickly of silver bolts. To his chagrin silver bolts darted from his wand and shot towards the professor.

They were deflected by a quick invisible wall and fizzled out.

"Very nice!" Thomas said with a grin, "Harry attacked me when my guard was done, clearly a fast learner." The professor retaliated with orange ribbons that lashed around Harry and then solidified, binding the teens wrists together. "Another key trick is to disable your opponent! An excellent spell for this is the incarcerous spell, it binds the receiver of the spell in anyway the caster sees fit."

Harry tried to wriggle free, but the ribbons clung to his skin.

"And now you must disable your opponent!" The professor shouted, bolts of red thunder flew from his wand towards Harry. The dark haired teen yelped and fell to his knees, ducking the thunder.

"Orchideous!" Harry gasped. Instead of another bolt of thunder, flowers poured from Thomas' wand. Rhapsody laughed and Harry took the opportunity to think for a moment, he maneuvered his wand to point towards the orange ribbons on his wrists and thought of the ribbons turning to water and sliding off his wrists, they did.

Now free, Harry took a moment to relax, suddenly a bolt of red thunder hit him right in the chest. With a gasp Harry fell hard onto the floor, for a moment he panted, trying to catch his breath from the spell. He looked up to find Rhapsody standing above him, wand pointed at his neck.

"Excellent Job, Mr. Potter. Class, I have just demonstrated the principle way to attack and disable your opponent. Tomorrow will go over the spells I used, for homework I want you to try and identify my attacks, you don't need to write it down, you are dismissed."

The students filtered out, Harry just lay on the floor, still having trouble breathing.

"I'm sorry, Harry, are you alright?" The professor asked honestly, offering Harry a hand up. He pulled the still gasping teen to his feet and sighed, "I'm sorry I overdid my last spell, you are a very talented duelist, though."

"Thank you," Harry said with a breathless smile.

"I noticed you whisper your spells, why?"

Harry froze, most of the time he hadn't used spells, then Harry threw on his most charming grin. "Well if my enemy doesn't know what spells I'm using he can't use them against me."

"Very tactful, indeed, Mr. Potter," Rhapsody said with a graceful nod, "I've heard the rumors, but I'd like to ask for myself, is it true you don't remember anything before Azkaban?"

"It's true, I don't really remember much of Azkaban either," Harry said cautiously. He was still pretty sure he couldn't trust Mr. Rhapsody. The teen quickly decided that he had to make Rhapsody trust him in order to decide whether this man was against him or not. Harry managed a real shiver and smiled weakly at his professor, "I'd rather not talk about Azkaban, bad memories."

"I understand, Azkaban is a terrible place," Rhapsody agreed.

"You've been?" Harry asked carefully.

"I haven't, but my brother was. He was an unwilling slave to the Dark Lord, when the ministry finally realized he was completely unaware of his actions, they released him from Azkaban, but only after three years." The professor said bitterly. "The ministry is overwhelmed by Voldemort-you don't mind if I say his name do you?"
Harry shook his head.

"Good, I know the ministry is overwhelmed, but they're so…uneffective. They have enough Aurors to fight Voldemort and yet they waste their resources, the ministry purposely keeps wizards in the dark and prevents the people from fighting back on their own!"

"I was there when the Death Eaters attacked Diagon Ally," Harry blurted out. "Everyone ran away screaming from the death eaters, I know they're frightening, but the wizards out numbered them one to five at least! Everyone just ran away instead of fighting! And the ministry didn't even show up till the end of the attack!"

"That's because the ministry would be nothing without Voldemort," Rhapsody growled. "It's been so long since the ministry worried about anything but Voldemort that they've forgotten how to actually make progress with wizarding society and deal with actual problems."

That peaked Harry's interest.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm ranting."

"No, don't be sorry. It's very interesting to me," Harry said honestly. "It's nice to find someone else who thinks that the ministry isn't doing all it could."

Rhapsody smiled wryly, "Still, it's unprofessional to be speaking of such things with a student."

"I hate to tell you, Professor Rhapsody, but I'm really not like most students," Harry sighed with a weariness that didn't match his cheery, happy go lucky student persona.

"No, you aren't Mr. Potter." Rhapsody agreed. "I believe Mr. Malfoy is waiting for you outside the classroom, you should go reassure him I haven't damaged you."

Harry snickered, "He's such a worrywart. Anyway, thanks Professor Rhapsody, I'd like to talk to you again sometime."

"That would be…nice, Mr. Potter." Rhapsody said with a tired smile. He watched as Harry walked out of the classroom to meet Draco and turned to glance out the window. "I look forward to it," The professor murmured quietly.

A/N: I actually liked this chapter. So do tell me what you think of our new, rather manipulative cute little Harry. Reviews are much loved and are all given virtual hugs.