The five students followed McGonagall into her office, Professor Snape pulling up the rear. He paused in front of K and waved his wand, muttering something under his breath. K's nose straightened and the blood stopped flowing.

"Thanks, Professor," he said.

Snape's lip curled as he growled at the student. "I did not do it for you, Mr. Nguyen." He glanced at McGonagall before glaring back at the five students in front of him.

Hermione was chewing on her bottom lip. Millicent showed her nervousness by shifting her balance from one foot to the other as she stood against the wall next to Asher.

Professor McGonagall turned to look at the assortment of students. "I will be talking with each one of you to hear what happened. Miss Granger, you first," she motioned for Hermione to follow her to her desk.

Hermione sat in the hard, wooden chair across from the teacher's desk. They were only two meters from the rest of the group but none of the students could hear their conversation. Asher, however, could understand much of what was passing between the two.

Asher turned to Millicent and tapped his right index finger on his left chest near the shoulder. He then made an 'x' with his wrists, the index finger of both hands extended and tapped the wrists twice on each other. Finally, he pointed to the ground. 'Why talk here?'

Millicent shrugged. She whispered, "It's not like we can hear them. She cast a muffliato."

On seeing Asher's confusion, she spelled out the last word. He still looked at her intensely. It took her a moment to realize that mufliato would mean nothing to a boy who read lips. "You know what they're saying!" She whispered, excitedly.

Asher nodded. In fact, where they stood waiting for their turn for questioning, he had a clear view of both faces. He couldn't catch all the words, but he could get the general highlights.

"You have to pay attention when it's their turn," she pointed to the two Gryffindor boys.

He did not need to be told that. In fact, since he realized that he had an advantage in this situation, he was determined to know how they would spin this encounter. He also realized that Snape might at some point notice that Asher was paying too much attention.

The Potions Professor stood beside Professor McGonagall, his focus was on Hermione. If he realized that Asher was understanding the conversations, he would likely remove the first year from the room entirely. Asher quickly worked to hide his thoughts from him. He focused on other things, knowing that Hermione's tale would be closer to the truth than the older Gryffindors.

"Mr. Finley, your turn," McGonagall said, after dismissing Hermione from her office.

Asher ignored Millicent's pointed look. Honestly, where was her Slytherin sneakiness? Snape would read her in a second and prevent him from understanding anything else.

"Care to explain the scene I walked in on?" McGonagall asked once the spells were back in place.

"I didn't start anything," Finley said, projecting confidence. "I saw the two Slytherins messing with the first year Gryffindor and I tried to stop them. Millie started trying to hex me, so K hit her with a silencio. The other boy punched K and then attacked me! I had to hex him. You know I wouldn't normally do that to a first year."

"One might wonder why Miss Granger insisted that she and Mr. Green were walking together when you and Mr. Nguyen jumped out at them," Snape's face betrayed no emotion. His eyes were sharp and focused on Rick.

Asher wondered what he was feeling. He could still feel Snape's presence at the edge of his mind, so he concentrated on it. Snape was not projecting to him, but he wondered if he would be able to sense his emotions if he focused enough.

"Well," Rick said, barely missing a step, "They may have been together. I don't remember. I do remember that she thought the boy was her friend." He looked to McGonagall, "I warned her that it was dangerous to make friends with that sort."

"Which sort is that, Mr. Finley?" Snape's glare was more pronounced now and Asher felt his anger.

"He's—well—you know. He's a Slytherin," the boy said with a shrug.

If Rick could feel the anger that Asher felt coming from Snape, he would not be sitting so calmly.

"Mr. Finley," Professor McGonagall stepped in, "There is no reason to assume someone is in the wrong based on their house. I happen to know that Mr. Green and Miss Granger often study together."

"But Professor—"

"Did you attack them before or after they claimed to be friends from other houses?" Snape asked.

"We didn't attack them, they attacked—"

"Don't. Lie. To. Me." Snape warned. He leaned over the boy in the chair and for the first time, Rick looked scared.

"Mr. Finley," McGonagall raised her own voice. "Did you and Mr. Nguyen attack a pair of first year students?"

"He punched K!" Rick pointed in Asher's direction.

The three people within the muffliato bubble stared over at Asher, who was a little too focused on their conversation for Professor Snape's comfort. He walked around to the other side of the desk, placing himself between Rick and Asher. The movement cut Asher off from the Gryffindor's side of the story.

Millicent touched his arm lightly, "Can you still see?"

Asher mouthed, 'No'. He could still feel Snape's anger though. He hoped that it was more for Rick and not for himself.

A few moments later, McGonagall dismissed Rick and called, "Mr. Nguyen."

"No," Snape said. "Mr. Green is next."

McGonagall was perplexed but she quickly hid her confusion. "Mr. Green, please have a seat." She motioned to the chair and Asher sat.

"I would like to hear your side of the story," she told him.

Asher looked at her and then at Snape. The usual way of communication with the man would take a long time and Asher was a little too upset to calmly project his thoughts. Instead, he thought about the memory of the incident. He held that out to Snape in his mind, as if projecting a movie through a window so that a next door neighbor could watch it too.

The wizard's face reflected a momentary shock and quickly disappeared. Asher hoped it was working. He let the memory play from the moment he was walking with Hermione up to the moment that McGonagall found them. At the end of the memory, which took less time to play in his head than he thought, he projected one more thought. Did you see it all?

"Thank you, Mr. Green," Snape said. "You are free to go."

Professor McGonagall did not hide her confusion now. "Severus, what happened? I have questions for him. I need to know what happened."

"We can question the other two, but Mr. Green just showed me the memory."

"Showed you the memory?" She asked. She looked at Asher with surprise and amazement. "How is he capable?"

"He and I have been studying legilimency, Minerva."

"And this? You taught him this?" McGonagall was impressed. "He hasn't even been here a month."

Asher felt a swell of pride. Some of it was his own. Some of it belonged to the presence at the edge of his mind. "That is not something I've taught him. It was very impressive, Mr. Green. You may leave now."

Thank you, sir. He left the room with one last encouraging smile to Millicent, who looked anxious standing alone near K.

XXXXX

"How's your shoulder?" Millicent asked as she dropped herself into the seat across from Asher in the Great Hall.

He gave a quick thumb's up. It still hurt, but he thought it was only bruised. Thankfully, Rick hadn't done more damage. The last thing he needed was a torn rotator cuff.

"What did you tell Snape?" She asked.

Asher tilted his head to the side.

"You told him something that made him look really impressed. I was watching."

I showed him the memory, Asher scribbled.

"Really? That's like, really advanced!"

"I heard you got in a fight," Draco said as he joined them. He did not smile at the pair. It was as if his shields were still up but he was willing to rejoin society.

"Yeah," Blaise sat beside Asher. He grinned broadly, "Rumor has it that two sixth-year Gryffindors lost to a couple of first year Slytherins."

Not exactly, Asher wrote.

"Shut it, Asher," Millicent said. She covered her mouth on one side so that Asher alone could see her lips, "Never ruin a good story with the truth."

Asher grinned and waved his hand, allowing her to take over the retelling of the story. She took her time telling it, drawing out every little detail and adding to it significantly to make it almost unrecognizable. Blaise and Draco were fully enjoying her version of the attack.

When she finished, Blaise said, "I can't believe they would do that." He glared at the table of red and gold.

"Of course they would," Draco growled. He stabbed his food a little too enthusiastically. "We are just Slytherins, after all."

Asher began writing, knowing what was coming.

"And that is why we don't hang out with those losers," Blaise said.

Millicent opened her mouth to say something but Asher held out his notepad. Don't tell me 'I told you so'. It wasn't H's fault.

"What kind of friend would I be if I rubbed it in now?" She asked, swallowing those exact words that had been on the tip of her tongue.

Asher held one hand in a thumbs up. He grabbed that thumb with his opposite fist, then dropped the first hand towards the floor.

Millicent laughed. Draco and Blaise looked at her, confused.

"What does that mean?" Draco asked, trying hard to seem like he did not really care.

"Well, the nicest definition is 'poop'. You can guess which word Asher intended," Millicent said with a smirk.

Asher grinned. He had his friend back. And maybe she would give Hermione a chance now.

"Well, everyone is talking about it," Blaise said as he shoved half a roll into his mouth. He spoke again a moment later, the bread still rolling around in his mouth, "Flint and Davies are planning some kind of revenge."

"Good," Millicent said. "I hate those prats."

"They better do it right, though," Draco said, gesturing with his fork. "Snape will skin them alive if they get caught."

"Oh they won't," Blaise assured them. "They pull this kind of thing all the time."

Were the Gryfs getting back at us because of them? Asher asked.

"Doubt it," Millicent said. "Those idiots just wanted to find anyone alone to mess with. Lucky for them, we arrived."

"Stay close to us, Asher," Blaise said. "You'll need to be protected."

Asher pointed to himself and raise his eyebrows in question.

"Yes, you. They know now," Blaise said, looking around the Great Hall.

"What are you talking about, Blaise?" Draco asked, mildly annoyed.

"They know Asher is deaf. They know he can't speak." Blaise leaned in over the table, "They know he can't fight back."

A chill swept over Asher's skin. He could feel it creeping up his back. He glanced around and noticed several students scattered around the tables staring back at him.

Millicent's look darkened. "If they try anything, I'll kill them myself."

Asher laid his hand on her arm and shook his head. He pointed to himself and made a circle with his index finger and thumb. It was not a BSL sign, but all three of his friends recognized it as meaning 'ok'.

"I'm not taking that chance. You're stuck with me until these morons find someone else to pick on."