A/N: Thanks so much for all the kind words for the last chapter.

ooooo

Two weeks before the end of term all the heads of houses went around to take the names of the students who would be staying behind over winter break. Neither Harry or Theo signed up, which Draco seemed to overlook, based on the strange way he began loudly talking about how happy he was to be going home to spend time with his family. It took Harry a few minutes to realize that this was supposed to be some kind of insult based on the fact that the Potters were dead.

"What is wrong with him?" Harry asked Theo, the last day of term, in the common room after Draco had swanned past, waving around a letter from his father. "How'd he even get in this house?" He asked, for what had to be at least the hundredth time, he'd never gotten a satisfactory answer, "I thought Slytherins were supposed to be sly and clever, not the most obvious people to ever exist."

Theo quirked half a smile, underlining something in his charms text. "Maybe his father bribed the hat." Theo said 'his father' in the exact same haughty tone that Draco always said 'my father' and Harry laughed softly as he pulled another old dusty history text from his bag. He was still working steadily on his research into the false goblin history they were being taught in class. He was beginning to think that the goblins from the bank would need to be involved in some way. And possibly the media.

The whole thing was so strange. Older books - fifty or sixty years - talked about the inscrutability of the goblin hierarchy. One book he'd found even referenced the fact that a King had been spoken of, yet never seen. More recent books talked about the wars that Professor Binns talked about in class. Most of them referenced Professor Binns as an expert on the subject.

Harry was beginning to wonder if all of this was just a crazy ghost who had it in for Harry's subjects, and a wizarding world that refused to do their own research. Even the assigned textbook only referenced one goblin rebellion. Harry had sent a letter off to the bank asking what they knew about that one instance. He hadn't yet received a response.

Theo lazily cast a tempus spell from his armchair, and straightened up when he realized what time it was, "Come on, we'll be late for Potions."

Harry quickly gathered his things and motioned to Blaise, Pansy, Daphne and Millicent, who packed up as well, and followed them out of the common room. "Where's Draco?" Millicent asked, as they began following Harry through the identical dungeon corridors.

"Probably framing his letter from home or dipping it in gold or making up a big 'Harry Potter is an orphan and I'm not hahaha' sign." Harry answered, tone a little bitter.

The other three Slytherins looked around nervously, "We're outside the common room." Blaise said, matter of factly.

Harry blew out a breath through his nose. The rules of Slytherin house stated that any arguments or bad blood between house mates were to stay inside the dormitory. Harry had never noticed Draco taking any steps to live up to that standard, but as Sarah would tell him, the bad behavior of others didn't excuse his own bad behavior. Theo adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder, giving Harry concerned looks. Harry breathed out again, and shook himself, trying to shake off the annoyance that was still lingering.

They turned the final corner to the potions corridor just as the classroom door opened and Professor Snape stuck his head out to motion them in. Timing like that was why most of the Slytherins now followed Harry to class, even though most of them were beginning to know their way around. They quickly filed into the classroom and took their usual seats. Harry settled into the seat next to Hermione, ignoring her suspicious glance. It seemed that Harry's fame wasn't helping the innate suspicion of Slytherin motives in Gryffindor house at least. Or maybe Hermione was just used to being suspicious of her classmates.

Harry just inclined his head at her casually, and then turned to pay attention to Professor Snape, who flicked his wand at the chalkboard, putting up a new potion. "As you begin to work on this new brew I will be handing back your assignments from last week." He lifted the pile of scrolls, and frowned at them all, "Overall they were unsurprisingly disappointing."

Draco walked in at that point, Vince and Greg following close behind on his heels. Harry realized after a moment that he was grinding his teeth, and forced himself to stop. At the head of the room, Professor Snape watched the three boys come in and sit down, and then opened his mouth. Harry braced himself for some unfair dismissive comment. "Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle. Thank you for joining us. That will be thirty points from Slytherin. Ten each."

The entire room froze. This was the first time Professor Snape had ever taken points from Slytherin. He usually spent most of the class praising Draco for properly preparing his potion ingredients. When a Slytherin did do something wrong - like placing the wrong ingredients in the wrong order so the potion melted or exploded something - he would go out of his way to blame a nearby Gryffindor student. It wasn't exactly fair, but neither were any of the other professors, just in the other direction.

Harry blinked at Professor Snape, and then turned to see Draco. His face was a picture. Completely pale and shocked, mouth dropped open wide. He recovered himself after a moment of gaping surprise, "Sir-!"

Professor Snape cut him off immediately, "Are you unaware of how to tell time Mr. Malfoy? It would explain a few things."

Draco scowled, "No sir."

"Then are you incapable of reading your class schedule? I can have someone explain it to you. The Hufflepuffs are always glad to help."

Draco's scowl deepened and a red flush began to rise in his cheeks as the entire class followed the conversation back and forth with wide eyes. "No sir." His tone was begrudging now, teeth clenched together.

"Then please explain to me why you and Mr. Goyle and Mr. Crabbe have been late for the last three of my classes." Draco scowled at nothing, and didn't answer. "Do you think prompt attendance at potions class is unimportant?"

The class turned their eyes back to Draco, who was clearly groping for an answer, "Of course not sir." Professor Snape raised an eyebrow, and Draco continued, "It won't happen again."

Professor Snape sniffed. "Please start today's lesson."

The class scrambled for the potions cabinet, selecting the ingredients needed for today. Draco, still seemingly stunned, allowed Vince to go up alone while he waited in his seat. Harry gathered his things and forced himself to turn his attention away from Draco's little drama and towards his cauldron. He worked slowly, paying attention to every step. He grimaced and flinched as he dropped a spoonful of beetle eyes into the simmering potion base, but luckily nothing else was as gross. When he was halfway through the potion the next step was to allow it to boil slowly for ten minutes, so he pulled his mixing spoon out and laid it across the top to keep it from being contaminated by any of the things on his workspace.

Professor Snape walked down the aisle then to hand him his last assignment, and Harry unspooled his parchment to find nothing written on it but a bright red 'See Me' at the top. Next to him Hermione obviously saw that and she straightened up with a self-righteous 'humpf'. Harry rolled his eyes as he finally realized what Hermione's problem was with him. He was better at potions than she was. How boring.

Harry finished and decanted his potion about ten minutes before the end of class. When he went to the front of the room to drop it off, Professor Snape looked up from what he was doing and nodded at the shimmering color of the potion, "You may leave after your potions are completed." Professor Snape announced to the class, and lower, just to Harry, added, "I am free after class. We can meet to discuss your assignment in my office."

Harry nodded and left the room. He wandered through the dungeon to the door to Professor Snape's office, where he slid down against the wall opposite the door, and took a seat on the floor. He considered pulling out another history text but his brain was exhausted, so he reached out to rub one of the nearby stones instead. The wall he was leaning against was cold enough that the chill began to seep through his robes. He crooned a short request to the stones behind him to warm up. The burbled happily to each other and did as he asked. He stroked the stone next to him, finding the edges, and asking the others around if they had anything stuck in them they wanted him to pry loose. They were all pretty happy, except for one that had a piece of parchment wedged somewhere uncomfortable. Harry bent down to start gently pulling it loose, asking one of the more talkative stones about his day. Stones usually enjoyed telling stories, but stones - especially stones kept in windowless dungeons - really didn't understand the concept of time, so it was always a guessing game about when the stories had actually taken place.

Harry was laughing along to a story about an older student who had spent his time tracing every crack and crevice in the walls and muttering to himself when Professor Snape walked up. His dark eyes squinted at him suspiciously, and Harry swallowed back his laughter, shouldered his bag and stood back up. "Sorry Professor."

Snape glanced around the hallway like he was looking for the source of Harry's laughter. His eyes fell on the stone floor, and he frowned a bit, before jerking his head to the office door. "Come in Mr. Potter." Harry stood to follow him in, "I was disappointed by your latest assignment Mr. Potter, it shows the typical arrogance of-" Professor Snape broke off abruptly when the door sealed shut behind him and the silencing and privacy charms locked into place. Harry frowned at him nervously, twisting the strap of his shoulder bag. "Oh, do take that look off your face Mr. Potter, your essay was just as precise as ever. I needed to use a ruse to get you behind my wards. The headmaster is not pleased. He has discovered you do not live with your Aunt."

Harry felt his eyes go wide, and he dropped his bag on the chair in front of Snape's desk. "How?"

Snape sighed softly, and crossed his arms over his chest, "I am unsure of the details. Something alerted him when you left the castle in November. He visited your aunt's home last month as well, but was unable to discover where she sent you. He tried again, but apparently your aunt has moved her family elsewhere. He has become extremely anxious, even more so when he realized you wanted to go home over break. He wants to meet with you tomorrow morning before you leave."

Harry's eyebrows went up in surprise. He'd never spoken to his aunt, though Jareth had apparently peeked at them once or twice. He'd always gotten the impression that they were not very good people. He tried not to feel bad that they had had to flee their house because of him. He bit at his lip anxiously. "Why does he care so much?"

Snape scoffed, "You have realized that you are famous in our world haven't you? You are the heir apparent to replace him as the light lord. If, as he firmly believes, the Dark Lord is not dead, you are the one that he expects to face him. Custody of you is extremely important to whatever plans he has for the future. I believe he may even go so far as to try to place a tracking charm on you during this meeting."

Harry raised his eyebrows, amused, "I would really love to see him try and follow us through the labyrinth."

Professor Snape sighed, "Yes, well. Do you have any ideas what you're going to tell him about where you live?"

Harry frowned at that, considering. "I suppose I'll say that Sarah raised me in America. She still spends time there, visiting her family. She'll have records if Dumbledore tries to track her down."

Snape frowned, "And how did you end up with her?"

Harry scuffed his shoe against the borders around a stone on the floor, smiled, "I don't know, I was one year old. Sarah always told me my parents died and left me to her."

Snape sighed, tapping his fingers against his arms where they crossed, "I suppose that will have to do. You can tell him that Sarah is a friend of your mother, and a Muggle. Tell him they met while your mother was living in London after graduation."

"Why after graduation?"

Snape rolled his eyes, "If they had met while Lily was in school Albus would have heard about it. The only time Albus was not active in their life would have been when she was in London after graduation before your parents married and actively joined the Order."

Harry blinked, "The Order?"

Snape sighed heavily, and unfolded his arms violently, "Do not concern yourself with that now. Organize your thoughts. You must not appear to be lying. He has ways of telling. Know exactly how much to give away."

Harry nodded and re-shouldered his bag, "Where is his office?"

"I trust that with your castle explorations you know the large gargoyle statue on the third floor?" Harry nodded, "That's the entrance. The password is 'Chocolate Frog'."

"You can't come with me?"

Severus sighed heavily, "No. It is best if we pretend not to like each other very much. If he thinks I can offer any insights on you he will not stop pressing until he gets some."

Harry frowned, but dipped his head understandingly. "Thank you."

Ooooo

The next morning the large gargoyle jumped aside quickly enough when Harry told it the password. Inside there was a circular staircase that moved on its own as soon as Harry stepped foot on it. With labyrinth trained instincts, Harry jumped from the moving stairs to the banister, crouching down on it as he studied the staircase, which had stopped moving as soon as he'd gotten off. He frowned at it suspiciously, before straightening and deciding to walk up the banister, just in case. A spiral banister was a little harder than walking on top of the walls of the labyrinth, but at least it didn't move. He slipped down to sit on the bannister when he got to the top, testingly pressed his toe against the ground, but it remained stable. He jumped down and knocked once on the door.

There was a half beat of silence before a cheerful "Enter" rang through the air. Harry pushed the door open to find himself in a large circular room. The room that he had watched for many hours in the mirror Below. He resisted the urge to wave to Jareth and Sarah, who were watching.

"Headmaster?" Harry asked, exaggerating the nervousness in his voice. "Snape said you wanted to meet with me?"

"Ah, yes. Harry, my boy. Come in, come in." Dumbledore's blue eyes sparkled. Harry had seen Jareth do that once or twice when some glitter got stuck in his eye. He wondered if he should offer to help get it out. "And it's Professor Snape my boy. Proper respect should be given even when they're not here."

"Oh, okay, sorry Albus." Harry said, taking a seat. Dumbledore's eyebrows came together and the twinkle died. Not glitter then.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, if you please."

Harry blinked innocently, "Oh. Sorry. I'm still trying to get used to the manners here. You called me Harry, so I assumed this was a first name situation."

Dumbledore's brow relaxed slightly, "Ah. Well, that is sort of what I want to talk to you about."

Harry straightened, and adopted a look of stricken apology, "My manners? Am I doing things wrong? I'm so sorry! I'm trying really hard."

Dumbledore blinked slowly in surprise, "No H- Mr. Potter. You have had no complaints about your manners. However, there is some concern about your living arrangements."

Harry blinked slowly, as if he had no idea what the man was talking about. "My living arrangements? What does that have to do with my manners?"

Dumbledore smiled benevolently, "Well, it has become rather clear that you do not live with your Aunt Petunia as your mother intended you to. The records we have here state that you live with her. We just need to clear up this bit of confusion."

Harry blinked, and then smiled, "Oh, okay. Well, the first part of that that's wrong is that my Birth Mom didn't want me to be with her sister. They didn't get along, from what my Mom has told me. Mom was contacted by Aunt Petunia when Aunt Petunia found me on her doorstep. Also, I got my letter at my mother's place. So I must be on record." He said, happily.

Dumbledore just looked at him for a moment, "Ah. Well, our school letter quill isn't attached to the official records. It is a highly magical artifact that was enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw that writes out the names and locations of children with magical power. We need to have your …" Dumbledore hesitated, and looked at an odd small glass ball on a silver pedestal on his desk. He reached out and it moved a bit, causing the clear potion inside of the ball to move and glitter green. "Your mother's name," he continued, voice less grandfatherly kind, firmer, "and the address of the place you're living."

Harry looked at the ball. Something about it felt like Below. No, not Below he realized, Jareth. That ball had been enchanted by Jareth. He stared at it, "My mother's name is Sarah Williams. We live in New York."

Dumbledore's gaze fell on him, bright and piercing, "New York? You have lived in America? Where?"

Harry bit his lip, "I can't say."

Surprise crossed Dumbledore's face, before he became stern, "Mr. Potter. We need this information."

Harry sighed, heavily, "Well then I guess I'll have to withdraw from Hogwarts."

The sentence landed like a bomb. Dumbledore's entire face froze in surprise. Harry wondered if he was even breathing. Harry watched him carefully. After a few long moments of silence, Harry stood. "I'll be late for the train if this takes much longer. You can think about how much you need my exact address over break."

Dumbledore's eyes thinned, just slightly, at the corners as he considered Harry. He folded his hands, and sat back in his chair. "Go join your friends." His voice was cold.

Harry went, with a rock of anxiety in his stomach.

Theo was waiting for him in the Great Hall. He raised a single eyebrow and Harry shrugged in response. They headed out to the carriages together silently.

Harry really loved Hogwarts but he still felt a large wash of relief when he stepped onto the Express to make his way home.