Harry exited the portrait hole into the corridor, suddenly realizing he had no particular destination in mind. He glanced around, running through scenarios in his head, before deciding to make his way to the Quidditch pitch. They were due to show up there soon for dueling anyway.

Having made this decision, Harry opened the first letter, letting his feet carry him toward his chosen destination. As Ginny had predicted, the first letter was from Remus.

Dear Harry,

I want to apologize for what happened yesterday. As you may have noticed, Sirius was not really himself. It is difficult to reason with him when he gets like that, so it was just easier to follow along with him when he insisted on going to Hogwarts. I realize now that this was a mistake.

I noticed you are already friends with Ginny Weasley. She may have told you already, but in case she has not, I will fill you in. Sirius was held in Azkaban Prison for thirteen years for a crime he did not commit. The magical creatures that guard the prison damaged his mind as a result of his prolonged exposure. As such, he has good days and bad days. Yesterday, as you could probably tell, was one of the bad ones.

However, I will not attempt to excuse his poor behavior, or my own. Your reactions to his anger yesterday were understandable, and it will not surprise me if you want to limit your interactions with Sirius and myself going forward. However, your father was a dear friend to both of us, so I would like to offer you my support in whatever way I can. If the least I can do is keep Sirius away, or write to you with stories of your father from our growing-up years, I will do it.

Having finally made it to the pitch, Harry took a seat on the grass and continued reading.

Now, I know Sirius is intending to write to you to beg your forgiveness in hopes you will consent to allowing him to visit. Harry made a face at this. I want to let you know you should feel no pressure to accept more visits. I could see how much the encounter yesterday effected you; you make the decision that you feel comfortable with, independent of anyone else's opinion. Sirius, while he has his limitations, is an adult. He can be patient until you are ready.

I hope I have the opportunity to correspond more with you in future, but I will leave the decision up to you. Best wishes in your studies.

Remus Lupin

Harry stared thoughtfully at the letter in his hand. He had halfway expected Lupin to plead on Sirius's behalf, but he'd done no such thing. He'd stated the facts and then told Harry to make the wisest decision he could, given the circumstances. Maybe it would be pleasant to write to Remus every once in a while, he decided. After all, it would be nice to get another perspective- so far, the only things he knew about his father came from Professor Snape's memories. Harry shuddered at the thought.

Putting aside the first letter, Harry turned to the second with some trepidation. He was not looking forward to this.

Harry,

I am so sorry for what happened yesterday. I was out of control and I sincerely apologize.

I want you to know I only want your safety and happiness. And I don't trust Snape any farther than I can throw him. Harry scowled. He thought he'd made this plain already. Please be careful. He was a Death Eater. Harry's scowl deepened.

As per Remus' insistence on pre-planning, I wondered if we could come back for a visit tomorrow? I have been waiting to meet you for such a long time. I have stories upon stories about your father that you must be dying to hear. Write back and let me know about tomorrow.

Sirius

Harry sighed, rubbing his face tiredly as he scanned both letters again. He didn't want to be cruel; he knew Sirius had had it rough. But he wasn't ready. Though…perhaps…

"Harry?" He looked up to find Ginny standing over him. When he didn't respond verbally, she took a seat beside him, holding out her hand in question. He took it, absentmindedly rubbing circles into the back of her hand with his thumb. She waited patiently for him to speak, recognizing his focused thought process as something that should not be disturbed. Finally, he looked up at her.

"Are you alright, Harry?" she asked, seeing her opening. He nodded vaguely.

"Just trying to figure out what I should do," he sighed, gesturing to the letters. "Sirius needs my help, but…but I'm not ready to face him again. I'm still angry at what he said about Severus. And Draco. And…and I didn't like it when he was angry. He was totally out of control." He shivered slightly despite himself. Ginny studied him.

"Harry," she said cautiously, "where is your head at?" He looked up sharply, but she did not back down. "Come on, you look really shaken," she observed. He turned his face away, his face becoming blank again. She sighed, running a hand through her loose hair. "Harry," she pleaded. "Please. Let me help."

He stared at her, then sighed. He was afraid she would think he was weak to still be effected by something that happened so long ago, but she was right. He didn't want to carry it alone any longer.

"Ok," he conceded, running a hand over his own hair in his nervousness. He retreated into his memory as he began to tell his tale.

Five-year-old Harry was walking down a sidewalk in the middle of town. Aunt Petunia always sent him to the store around this time on Fridays. He walked happily, bouncing a little as he did so. Aunt Petunia had asked him to pick up some ice cream for Dudley's birthday party the next day. Maybe this time, Aunt Petunia would let him have some.

Just before he came to the store, Harry walked past a dark alleyway. Without warning, a man grabbed him, pulling him into the darkness. Harry tried to cry out, but the man stuffed a filthy rag into his mouth, making him gag. He looked up at the man in fear. He was probably around forty or so, and his clothes looked odd. He wore some sort of long robe, and was twirling a stick in his fingers.

He was muttering to himself, but Harry didn't understand what he was saying. All of a sudden, the alleyway disappeared and they were inside a dimly lit room somewhere. The man shoved him into a cage and locked the door, leaving Harry alone, whimpering in the dark.

Sometime later, the man came back. Another man walked behind him, but didn't say a word. Harry couldn't tell how long it had been. He grabbed Harry by his shirt front, and the little boy could see a tattoo on his arm now that his sleeve was rolled up- a skull with a snake coming out of it's mouth. It sort of looked like it was moving. He shivered.

"Where is the Dark Lord?!" the man growled. Harry had no idea what the man was talking about. What was a Dark Lord? And why would Harry know anything about that? He shook his head frantically, not able to make a sound in his terror. This just seemed to make the man angry.

"Where!?" the man shouted, pushing the shaking boy roughly against the wall.

"I don't know!" Harry cried. "I don't know what you're talking abou-"

"TELL ME! NOW!" the man screamed, hitting the scared boy, knocking him to the side.

"Come, Robert," the second man said. "We'll leave him alone to…think about it. He's not going anywhere." The first man glared at Harry, his eyes menacing, then withdrew, following the second man. Harry was alone again.

He was terrified. He had no concept of how long he sat there, hoping and praying that the men would not come back. It wasn't likely that the Dursley's would be looking for him; they'd just say, "good riddance," and go back to their day. No, he had no one. He curled into a ball, hoping to shut out the terrible situation entirely.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Harry shrank into a corner and closed his eyes, wishing with all his might that the men would not notice him. Somehow, his wish came true.

"Where'd he go?!" the first man yelled, unlocking the door to get a better look. "How did he get out of the cage?" Harry held very still.

"Come on, he couldn't have gotten far," the second man said, turning and leading his companion away.

Once they had gone, Harry cautiously got to his feet, slipping out the door of the now-unlocked cage and out of the room. Fortunately, the building was not large. The front door was not far from the door to the room with the cage. Upon leaving the building, which Harry could see was a house of some kind, he quietly sneaked past the men, who were searching the yard. They did not notice him.

He looked around, but had no way of knowing where he was. He was only a little kid, after all, and it wasn't like the Dursley's took him lots of places.

What if those men found him? What would they do to him? Would they beat him? Kill him? He really didn't want to find out. Oh, how he wished he were at home! Even the Dursley's were better than these guys.

Suddenly, he found himself staring at the front of the Dursley's house, the night sky dark as he took in his surroundings. His eyes widened. Somehow, he'd come back!

Taking off at a run, he burst in through the door.

"Where have you been?!" Aunt Petunia yelled as he ran to her. He wanted her to comfort him, but looking at her livid face, something told him this would be a bad time to ask for comforting.

"Someone…grabbed me and took me away," he mumbled. "I escaped."

Aunt Petunia glared at him. "Don't lie," she snapped. "You probably ran off to the playground all afternoon. And you didn't get the ice cream for Diddy's birthday! Straight up to your room! No breakfast tomorrow!"

Harry did as he was told, but not before a few tears escaped his eyes, falling unchecked down his face.

Ginny looked at the black-haired teen in shock. Harry had been found and abducted by a Death Eater at the age of five? And was somehow still alive? The pieces began to come together.

"That's why you don't like to be touched," she said finally. "It reminds you of…that Death Eater." He looked at her sharply. "That tattoo you described- it's the Dark Mark, the mark of a Death Eater," she explained. "They wanted to know where You-Know-Who was." She scoffed. "They can't have been very smart. If they were, they'd know that you probably didn't remember anything from when you were only a year old." Harry gave a half-hearted smirk and nodded.

"That's why. And it's not like the Dursley's are big on hugs or anything. At least, not with me. There was very little affection to replace those memories with," he added morosely.

"And…Sirius losing control?"

"That too," he admitted. "The guy who took me was furious when I couldn't give him the answer he wanted, and that's when he really started trying to hurt me." There was silence for a moment as Ginny processed this.

"And…your wards have been up all that time?" she asked, studying him carefully. He shrugged, his emerald eyes dull.

"Must have been," he said. "No one else found me after that. I thought it was just because I started taking a different route to the store though."

Ginny thought about Harry as that poor little boy. He was abducted and he really didn't even have one person he'd told about it, until now? Not one person who believed him? Who cared enough to comfort him?

"Harry?" she said. He turned to her questioningly. "Can I…can I give you a hug?" He stared at her, as though this was a foreign concept for him. Which, Ginny reminded herself, it probably was. Then, suddenly, she found herself encircled tightly in his arms, as though he were clinging to her for dear life.

Carefully, he laid his head on her shoulder, pulling her into his chest. She could feel him shaking slightly, and she slowly moved to run her hand through his hair, trying to calm him. He tensed, then forced himself to relax into her touch.

"It's alright, Harry," she promised. "You are safe with me."

"I know," he muttered, holding her tighter, trying to stop his quivering. She laughed breathlessly.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"I can't breathe," she chuckled. He quickly let go.

"Sorry! I-"

"It's ok. It's new. You'll get used to it," she reassured him, slowly wrapping her arms around him again so as not to startle him. They stayed there in each other's arms until the others joined them for dueling. This time, as Dray, Hermione, and Neville shot them knowing looks, they didn't even bother to be embarrassed, too grateful for the experience they'd shared to care.

The next several days were business as usual. Harry replied to his letters, saying he would like some more time before meeting with Sirius and Remus again. He'd received a pleading letter each day afterwards but had held firm. He wasn't going to meet up until he was ready. He'd suggested an alternative plan to Ginny, who was willing to help when Harry decided he wanted to put it into action.

Ginny's letter to Dean had been answered only with radio silence. Ginny couldn't tell if this was good or bad, but either way, she was absolved of any guiltiness of conscience she would have felt otherwise.

Ginny and Harry had become more at ease with each other since that day on the pitch where Harry explained the details of his abduction. Harry was slowly getting used to being casually touched, but still really only felt semi-comfortable with Ginny, and even less so with the others.

Harry had not explained about the prophecy yet. He and Draco also had not discussed it further. Harry himself didn't quite know his own feelings on the matter, though some part of him hoped it was some terrible mistake and he would never have to inform his other friends. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Ginny's face when she realized that he had to confront the Dark Lord. So for now, he kept silent, and somehow was able to keep his brooding thoughts and feelings locked away.

The only thing that wasn't normal was the fact that Severus had been nowhere to be seen since that day with the memories. By the third day, Harry and Draco were both becoming worried.

"Do you think he went out on some mission and something happened to him?" Draco asked as they practiced their spells. Harry, who was slowly getting a handle on his spell power, was no longer disintegrating the test dummies. His aspen wand still got little use in dueling, however, since Harry was hyperaware of the fact that his spells were still overpowered. He wanted to have it 100% under control before he put his friends on the receiving end of his spells.

"I hope not," Harry said, glancing at the blond. "We should go see if we can find him after class today. Though, it might take a while. The castle is enormous." Draco shot a couple more spells, thinking. Harry could see a thought cross his mind suddenly.

"Hey wait. Doesn't your girlfriend have a map of Hogwarts?" he asked, casually gesturing over his shoulder with a finger towards Ginny, who was practicing her own spells. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"She's not my girlfriend, Dray," he protested. The blond looked at him skeptically.

"Right, whatever you say Potter," he said, his voice thick with sarcasm.

"She's not! At least, we haven't really talked about it," Harry said, his green eyes shining as he thought of the beautiful redhead that turned his world upside down. Draco smirked.

"You are completely in love with her, aren't you?" he said, snickering with the other wizard's eyes widened in panic.

"Shh, Dray! Not so loud!" Harry complained shooting a glance over Draco's shoulder to where Ginny was practicing. She hadn't seemed to notice anything. When the blond continued to smirk at him gleefully, he scowled.

"Anyway, about the map- this is the first I've heard of it. You'll have to ask Ginny," he said, attempting to change the subject. Draco sobered slightly as he remembered the original reason he'd been asking.

"Right."

Later that day, after the quintet had finished their lessons, Harry and Dray bid goodbye to the others, taking Ginny's map with them. Harry had looked it over appreciatively as Ginny showed them how to work the parchment, noting the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs on the front. Studying it carefully, Harry and Draco found Professor Snape hidden away in an obscure corner of the library.

Several minutes later upon searching the library, the two boys caught sight of the dark haired professor, seated behind a table and mostly hidden behind a large stack of books. They made their way over.

"Uncle Severus," Draco greeted. The potions master did not look up. "What are you doing?" Dray asked curiously, noting the titles of some of the books spoke of intense dark magic, while others were high-level defensive magic, while still others were on secure magical travel.

"It's none of your concern," Severus muttered, continuing to skim through his book.

"Please, Professor," Harry said, and the boys noticed Severus stiffen slightly at the sound of Harry's voice. "Can we help?" Snape stood swiftly, putting his eye height more even with the two boys, a scowl evident on his face.

"No, Potter, you may not," he glowered. Draco stood back, preparing to leave, but Harry stood his ground.

"Professor," he said calmly, taking a seat at the table and a book from the top of the stack. "It makes little to no sense for one person to try to get through all of these when you have others willing to help. Just tell us what you are looking for." Draco looked at Harry in astonishment. He'd never seen someone stand up to his godfather before, nor had he seen Severus actually consider someone's argument against him.

Severus' scowl did not vanish, but he muttered darkly, "Your Gryffindor is showing, Potter. And Hufflepuff."

Draco smirked. "Not to mention Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Wow, Harry, all four houses in one interaction! That's got to be some kind of record!"

Harry smirked back. "Thank you, times four then." He returned his attention to Severus raising his eyebrows in question. The professor sighed.

"Very well. I'm looking for information on how to destroy a very powerful dark object attached to a person without harming that person, as well as a solution for getting the students to school in a way that keeps them safe from the Death Eaters. The train is far too vulnerable."

Harry and Draco quickly divided up the books, with Harry researching the travel and Draco the dark object.

"Is there a way to ward the train from those with the Dark Mark?" Harry asked after he had looked through several books. Draco smirked.

"Basically all the students in my dorm would be unable to board the train, if that were the case," he said. "So much the better, I say," he remarked as he idly flicked through pages. "The Junior Death Eaters might be an integral part of an ambush of the train, if there is one planned."

"The Headmaster believes that an attack before the students arrive at the castle is unlikely," Severus threw in, snapping another book shut after not finding anything useful. "This is just a precaution. The Dark Lord could have an attack planned that occurs in several phases. One phase would be designed to distract from the next, and so forth." Harry nodded. He'd read stories where the villains used similar strategies.

They continued scanning books, each one being tossed aside after they'd made a few notes. A few hours later, they'd reached the bottom of the stack. They had some ideas now for each subject, but not many. Harry scowled in frustration. It seemed they had not made much progress.

"I will take these suggestions to the Headmaster. Perhaps he can help us come up with some solutions," Severus said at last, re-shelving all the books with a wave of his wand and preparing to leave. Draco, too got to his feet and turned to leave, but Harry stopped them.

"Wait, sir," he requested, standing as well. Severus turned back toward the boy, obsidian eyes boring into emerald green. "We just wondered if you were alright, sir," he asked bluntly.

A flicker went through Severus' eyes, but disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Perfectly adequate, thank you, Potter, Draco," he said, turning away. Harry raised an eyebrow. If now was ever the time to act like a Gryffindor, it was now. He took a deep breath, then plunged onward.

"I don't blame you, sir, for what happened with the prophecy, or what it led to," he said. The potions master froze. Draco was glancing back and forth between the two, amazed at what he was seeing. Severus turned back toward the black-haired boy, a pained snarl on his face.

"Don't you understand, Potter? I. Do."

Harry gazed at the man calmly. "I know, sir," he said quietly, bowing his head. "But I have no doubt that Mum, wherever she is now, does not." He watched as the potions master's face contorted and he turned away. "She would have understood that you made a mistake, and when you realized it, you tried to make it right. She would have forgiven you."

Draco was stunned that Severus was still standing there, listening rather than fleeing the scene. But Harry wasn't finished yet.

"Uncle Severus," he said firmly, in an attempt to show his acceptance, "She would have forgiven you. And…I will also."

The older man's shoulders drooped, as though he'd let out a breath he'd been holding. He stood, still as a statue for a few moments. Then, he spoke quietly, almost inaudibly.

"Thank you…Harry."

And with a swirl of his cloak, he was gone.