The Vanishing Glass.

"Are we going to hear about some of your accidental magic?" Charlie asked. Many other people around the hall seemed intrigued as well, wanting to hear about how powerful Harry's magic had been before Hogwarts.

"Probably," Harry agreed.

"Wait, you mentioned something like that before, and about Brazil," Ron said quietly, so that only those close to them could hear.

"When did I..." he asked, trailing off slightly as he tried to remember mentioning that particular bout of accidental magic.

"Second year, after the duelling club," Hermione supplied. Harry's eyes lit up as he remembered telling them.

"Oh yeah. And yes, that is what this is about," Harry agreed.

"Brilliant. I swear you left out the best parts of the story when you told us," Ron said eagerly. Harry shrugged; he had, but he had had a lot on his mind when he mentioned it in second year, like finding out that he could speak a language he had never even heard of before. Those around them looked on curiously , wondering what they were talking about, since only those who were completely in the know could follow all of their conversations, and even then, it was hard.

Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.

"That's boring," Lee said.

The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls.

"Dramatic much," Neville commented.

"You have no idea, Nev," Harry replied with a grin, thinking of what happened later that year when his Hogwarts letter arrived.

Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bobble hats,

Many people around the hall burst in to laughter at the description of Dudley.

"That description is so accurate," Harry said, calming down from his laughter.

but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle,

"Which lasted a whole three days," Harry mock whispered to Ron and Hermione.

The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.

"Why weren't there any pictures of you Harry?" Mrs Weasley asked, concerned.

"Don't like having my picture taken," Harry replied easily with a shrug, his answer seeming to placate Mrs Weasley; his answer was truthful enough though, since all his friends knew how much he hated having his photo taken; thankfully, Colin had finally managed to understand that and didn't pester him about photos all the time anymore. He had automatically covered for the Dursleys, like he had whenever questions had been asked when he was younger on fear of punishment if he didn't, but he didn't know why. They were going to find out soon anyway.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Many people around the hall flinched or winced slightly as Aunt Petunia's shrill voice rang out around the hall from the spell.

Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove.

"You have good hearing Harry," George said.

"Yeah, wasn't your room on the second floor?" Fred agreed. Harry just shrugged, gesturing for them to just keep listening.

He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.

"Not a dream dear Harrikins," Fred and George said happily. Snuffles barked happily at the thought of Harry remembering his bike while Remus frowned slightly.

"You have a great memory Harry," he said. Harry blushed slightly at the praise and looked down. Sometimes he wished his memory weren't so good; he had no wish to remember any of the attacks he had experienced and yet remembered them in detail.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon.

Hermione and Mrs Weasley turned to look at Harry.

"They made you cook," Hermione demanded in a soft voice that Harry had learnt very quickly meant danger for whoever it was directed at.

"Sometimes," he replied hesitantly; no need for them to know he always cooked when he was at their house and actually allowed out of his room.

"Since when?" Hermione asked, voice still that quiet, threatening tone.

"Since I could reach the stove and see the pans."

"How old was that?" Hermione pressed.

"Since I was four," Harry mumbled, but Remus, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius still heard – Hermione and Ron since they were right next to him, and Sirius and Remus due to their enhanced hearing – causing those in human form to sharply suck in air, while Snuffles lowly growled.

And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

There were snickers all around the hall at the first of Dudley's many nicknames.

"Duddy," Fred gasped.

"They get better," Harry replied through his laughs.

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.

"He didn't say anything," many of the Weasley's growled.

He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them,

Ron shuddered at the thought of spiders and Harry shot him a reassuring look.

"You really need to keep your room cleaner if there are spiders in it," Hermione said. Harry didn't reply.

Harry was used to spiders,

"How can you be used to spiders?" Ron asked, his voice a little higher than normal, which Harry ignored; he knew how much Ron hated spiders, which definitely wasn't helped by their experience in second year.

because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ginny asked. Fred and George exchanged worried glances with each other. They had seen the cupboard the book referred to when they had gotten Harry's stuff out of it before his second year. They had thought they had seen a small cot in there but passed it off as their imagination; after all, it was very dark, and it could have been anything. Now they weren't so sure.

and that was where he slept.

The hall burst in to outraged noise, many people yelling about the injustice of it. Harry stared at his lap.

"YOU SAID HE WOULD BE SAFE," Minerva could be heard yelling at Dumbledore even above the noise in the hall.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Hermione asked.

"Why didn't you tell us mate?" Ron asked at the same time.

"Didn't come up," Harry replied in a murmur.

"A cupboard," Remus growled, sounding much like the wolf that he became on the full moons. Remus wanted to take one of the calming draughts but knew that he would need them for later in the book if any of the things he had heard mentioned in passing over the summer were true and didn't know if more would be provided. Snuffles was growling fiercely as well. The hall eventually quieted enough for the spell to continue reading.

Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise unless of course, it involved punching somebody.

"Tell me it doesn't mean you?" Ron said, looking at Harry. Harry didn't reply, instead trying to sink down into the couch and disappear from view. He really hadn't wanted information about his home life coming out, especially in the public way it was.

Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry,

This caused more growls from Remus and Snuffles, while the glares that Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Tonks, and Mrs Weasley, along with many others, made Harry surprised that the book hadn't burst into flames.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.

"That's also your genes. Lily was thin when she was younger, and James was like a short twig until he hit his growth spurt in sixth year," Remus said. Harry perked up slightly at that, thankful that he at least still had a small chance of growing again.

Over where the staff were situated, Madame Pomphrey was doing her best to examine Harry from a distance, trying to work out how she had missed what his appearance indicated about his home life. She had just put it down to his genes, since, like Remus had said, both his parents had been small and thin when they were his age; now that she thought about it though, they had never been that short, or that thin, both of which were signs of malnutrition. And she hadn't had a reason to do a deep scan, even with the number of times he had ended up in the hospital wing from one thing or another, since she could normally see what was wrong quite easily or someone had been able to tell her, so hadn't found the evidence of any past mistreatment. She was also trying to work out a way to convince him to come to the hospital wing later for a check-up. She knew how much he hated the hospital wing and he was always trying to avoid coming to her or trying to get her to let him leave early; one time, he had even managed to get around the alert ward she had set up and snuck out.

He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.

"He was about 10 times bigger when we saw him," George commented. Harry grinned at the reminder of what had happened that day.

"Yeah, well, he got bigger."

"Didn't you say he was on a diet?" Ron asked, remembering when Harry had asked for food since Dudley was on a diet.

"Oh yeah. He was on a diet that summer," Harry agreed, "but that was because he became wider than he was tall."

Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,

"James," Remus murmured.

and bright green eyes.

"Lily," Remus murmured, the thought echoed silently in Severus' mind.

The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.

"You liked that?" Hermione asked quietly.

"You hate that scar," Ron agreed.

"Yeah, well, I didn't know how I got it or what it represented at the time. I was ten, it looked cool, and was different to anything anyone else had," Harry replied.

"In the car crash when your parents died,"

Harry winced as the whole hall seemed to explode at that sentence.

"A CAR CRASH!" Remus shouted, loud enough that he could clearly be heard even above the various yells of outrage from all around the hall, the loudest coming from the DA and the teachers who had liked Lily and James.

she had said. "And don't ask questions."

"But how are you meant to learn," Filius exclaimed.

"That was the point," Harry said quietly, remembering how the Dursleys had reacted when his marks were good; he was pretty sure that he wasn't allowed to ask questions because they didn't want him to learn at all.

Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

"That explains why he never asks questions in my class," Pomona said sadly. She looked over to the other head of house around her.

"He doesn't ask questions in mine either," Filius agreed.

"Do you really believe Potter would ask me a question?" Severus drawled.

"He doesn't ask questions in class, but he has come to me outside of class," Minerva admitted.

"What for?" Pomona asked.

"He has come to me four times. The first time, I dismissed him; it will probably be in this book, so I won't explain. The second time, he asked if he could stay at Hogwarts over the summer holidays at the end of his first year, but I told him it wasn't possible. The third time, he asked to visit Miss Granger in the hospital wing while she was Petrified, and I couldn't say no. That was the only time I gave him a positive answer. The fourth time, he asked if he could go to Hogsmeade just for the first Hogsmeade weekend because his relatives didn't sign his form," Minerva explained. She still blamed herself for the danger that he went through at the end of his first year; if she had only believed him, he wouldn't have thought he had to save the stone.

"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.

"Can we…"

"No."

"Please Harrikins?"

"No."

Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.

"That's a losing battle. The Potter hair can't be tamed, no matter how much you try," Remus said.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. But I think it had something to do with a Potter hundreds of years ago insulting someone and then that Potter being cursed to cause their metamorphic ability to be confined to keeping their hair untameable and the curse was passed down through the family, since it affected the genetics. It also meant that no Potter has been a Metamorphmagus since, even though they used to have the ability and even if they married someone who was a Metamorphmagus," Remus said slowly, trying to remember what James had told Lily when she had asked after Harry was born; she had gotten very annoyed at Harry's hair when he was a baby. Harry sighed; he would have liked to have been able to morph like Tonks, instead of just having it stuck to his hair; he could have used it to hide his scar or change his appearance so he could go out in public without being mobbed.

Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.

Almost the whole hall laughed at that description.

"That's something Lily would have said," Remus whispered to Harry, causing Harry to grin; he loved learning about his parents.

"Where did this sense of humour go?" Fred and George asked as they laughed.

"Somewhere where you can't corrupt it," Harry replied, before adding in an under tone, "to saving people and Britain."

"We will corrupt you yet," Fred decided. Harry grinned, shaking his head.

"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

"Excuse me, how many presents?" Ginny asked, shocked.

"Just wait," Harry replied.

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.

"He's mad about only getting thirty-seven presents?" Tonks asked. Harry nodded.

"And people say that I'm spoiled," Draco said under his breath.

Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.

"Does he do that often?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"Often enough that I know when he's going to do it. It's actually quite funny if I don't have food on the table," Harry replied with a shrug. Anyone who heard the answer looked shocked that someone could behave like that.

Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, Popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"

"They're going to get him more," Charlie said in shock.

"Yep."

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"

"He can't even add two," a Ravenclaw commented, looking disgusted.

"I think he's still learning to count to ten," Harry replied with a shrug, causing Ron, George, Fred, and Remus to snort.

"How is he passing school?" Hermione asked.

"Honestly, your guess is as good as mine," Harry replied.

'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.

"You don't encourage that kind of behaviour," Mrs Weasley said.

She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.

"He has a name," Ginny snarled.

"It's Harry, use it," Neville added. Harry didn't say anything, used to that type of treatment.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"So glad they didn't," Harry said.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."

"The feeling is mutual," Harry said. Ron suddenly grinned.

"Wait, is she the one you…" he asked, being cut off as Harry covered his mouth.

"She was. But I want to see everyone's reaction when we get there," Harry replied.

"What are you talking about?" Remus asked. Harry and Ron exchanged looks.

"Third book, you'll see," the two boys replied in sync. Hermione giggled.

"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).

"They didn't, did they?" Mrs Weasley asked, concerned about a child being left alone.

"No, they didn't."

"I won't blow up the house," said Harry,

"Of course, you wouldn't," Bill said.

"Yeah, he's not Fred and George," Ginny added with a smirk. Neither Fred or George argued or protested that, instead pretending to take a bow while still sitting down, which looked very funny.

but they weren't listening.

"No adult ever does," the trio sighed together. George and Fred exchanged looks. That was their trick. And the trio weren't even related.

"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…"

"That is illegal," a seventh-year muggle-born growled.

"And deadly. He could have died," Remus added in a low growl.

"How?" Ron asked, looking between Hermione and Remus.

"He could have gotten heatstroke," Hermione said.

"Ron, remember on the way to Hogwarts in second year? Now make it so there is no food or water, no AC, you can't put the windows down or open the doors, and in June rather than September," Harry explained when he still looked confused. Ron paled. Harry then turned to Hermione, wanting to reassure his friend.

"They didn't leave me in there. And if they did, my magic would have kept me safe."

"But you don't know that. Your magic might not have been able to cool you down," Hermione replied, tears starting to gather in her eyes.

"But my magic would have gotten me out of the car. All I would have had to do is put my hand against the door and it would open, just like my cupboard did whenever I was locked in there." Hermione nodded slowly but didn't say anything. The adults all seemed surprised by what Harry had just said.

"Did he just admit he could control his accidental magic at such a young age?" Minerva asked, shocked.

"He did," Filius agreed.

"That wasn't accidental magic. That sounds like controlled wandless magic," Moody said gruffly, impressed by Potter's abilities.

"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…"

"Oh yes, that's the problem," Tonks said, extremely sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

"Did her arms fit?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.

"They were just around his neck, so they did, just barely though."

"Don't worry about that," Lee said.

"Worry about what she called him," George agreed.

"Dinky Duddydums," Fred gasped and all three of them started to laugh.

"I told you they got better."

Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

"Can't cry in front of his friends," Luna commented shaking her head, shocking many people who heard her since her voice lacked its usual dreaminess.

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

"He didn't, did he?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"He didn't. I was at Hogwarts for Christmas that year. And most of his threats tend to be empty," Harry assured her.

The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.

"Strange things always happen around you," Ron said. Harry mock-gasped, pretending to be offended, even though he knew that Ron was right.

Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar."

Many people stared at Harry, obviously trying to imagine him with that haircut.

Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.

"Nothing can stop the Potter hair," Remus snickered, "it's the Potter curse. The same thing happened when you were a baby too. Lily got annoyed at your hair, so she cut it all off, and it was back exactly how it had been the next day. James found it hilarious."

Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange bobbles).

Many people around the hall looked disgusted at the very thought of the jumper.

On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.

"What were you doing on the roof?" Neville asked.

"You'll see," was all Harry said, doing his best to not think about what kind of trouble he had been in for that occurrence and what his punishment had been.

Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.

"You apparated," Ron said.

"Or I flew," Harry agreed with a shrug, "I'm not entirely sure which."

"That is still powerful magic either way Harry," Hermione said. Harry shrugged; he wasn't that powerful. He completely ignored the looks that he was getting from around the hall from those who realised how powerful he actually was.

But today, nothing was going to go wrong.

Ron and Hermione sighed.

"What?"

"You jinxed it," they replied. Harry huffed and crossed his arms. He hated that they were right.

He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects.

"I think he likes complaining about you Harry," Ginny said, smirking slightly.

"Really? I would never have guessed?" Harry replied sarcastically.

"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."

Hermione sighed and Harry shrugged, looking sheepish.

"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

"Yeah, they do," the trio said in unison.

If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.

"Harry doesn't need cartoons to get dangerous ideas," Hermione said.

"Yeah, he gets them all on his own," Ron agreed.

"I resent that," Harry huffed.

"Do I want to know?" Remus asked wearily.

"I'd say you don't, but the book will tell you anyway," Harry replied. Remus sighed.

It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.

"That's not very nice Harry," Luna said, her voice back to its normal dreaminess.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You shouldn't have insulted the gorilla. Did you apologize?" Harry shook his head in response as he laughed quietly.

Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all too good to last.

"Of course, it was," Hermione sighed. Harry smiled and shrugged.

Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"He actually did what his son told him to. After he spoke like that?" Bill asked. He was looking at his mum with a slightly frightened expression on his face, a look that the other Weasleys were matching.

It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.

"You compared yourself to a snake mate," Ron said slowly.

"I know."

He looked back at the snake and winked, too.

"Only Harry," Hermione and Ron said. Harry just grinned.

"I get that all the time."

Except that it was said in a slightly hissing voice, as if the snake was actually speaking. And, looking back, Harry figured that the snake probably had been, he just hadn't realised.

The snake nodded vigorously.

"You're talking to a snake," Remus said.

"Yep," Harry replied.

"And the snake is understanding you," he checked.

"Oh yeah."

"You're a Parselmouth."

"Yes."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Ron asked, slightly aggressively.

"Of course not," Remus replied quickly. "I'm just surprised since I don't think that there's ever been a Parselmouth in the Potter line. Besides, I would be very hypocritical if I did have a problem with it."

"Parseltongue is a Dark ability," Umbridge screeched. Harry sighed; he knew that it had been too long since she said anything, but he had hoped.

"No, it isn't. Some people can speak to snakes. So what? The ability isn't Dark. It all depends on the person and how they use it," Hermione said, standing defensively in front of Harry, as if daring anyone to say something. When no one else said anything, Hermione sat down again with a satisfied nod.

"Was it nice there?"

"Only Harry," Ron and Hermione sighed again.

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"So not very fast then," Ron said.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.

Harry grimaced slightly before quickly masking the pain of being hit in the ribs and hitting the ground. He discretely rubbed his chest, trying to hide the fact that he was in pain.

What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

"What did you do?" Fred, George, and Lee asked eagerly.

"You'll see," Harry said, smirking slightly. He was glad that the pain from the punch hadn't lasted long but knew that it was one of his nicer injuries that he would have to relieve.

Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.

Many people around the hall cheered.

"That is very impressive Mr Potter," Minerva said. Harry rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment; it hadn't been that great.

"That kid is very powerful. Imagine if he was trained," Moody said.

As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo."

"I knew you left the best parts out," Ron said, laughing. Harry shook his head in amusement.

"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"

"It went into the non-being. That is to say, everything," Luna said.

"Correct Miss Lovegood," Filius squeaked.

"Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.

"NO MEALS. THEY STARVED YOU!" Mrs Weasley, Hermione, and Madame Pomphrey all yelled, although Madame Pomphrey wasn't extremely surprised now that she was noticing the signs of malnutrition that he displayed. Remus seemed too mad to yell as was instead growling lowly. All around the hall, people, especially the DA, were looking furious.

"They didn't starve me," Harry muttered, but he wasn't quite quiet enough that no one heard.

"If not giving you meals wasn't starving you, what was?" Ron asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Summer before second year," Harry replied. Ron paled but nodded his understanding, having seen the conditions he had been forced to live in that summer.

Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.

"Like I said, I was able to get out even when my cupboard was locked. I wasn't starved. I still got food, even if they didn't willingly give me any."

Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.

"You remember that?" Tonks asked. Harry nodded.

"I wish I didn't, but yeah, I do." And I remember even more now, he added silently.

There were no photographs of them in the house.

"I have some now, it's fine," he said as he was shot looks of pity.

When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.

"Not anymore," Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny said.

Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.

The book stopped reading, leaving the hall in silence for a moment before people started talking quietly about what they had heard during that chapter.

Many of the aurors in the hall had been writing down details from the chapter, hoping they would be able to get the Dursleys arrested for child abuse. But Amelia Bones knew that, unfortunately, Harry would still have to tell them everything, since they couldn't speak about what they had learnt from the books.

Hermione and Ron exchanged glances before they stood, pulling Harry up with them and dragging him away from their group and to the back wall of the Great Hall. Sirius got up to follow them, but Harry shook his head at the dog, having an idea about what his friends wanted to talk about and knowing he would want privacy for it.

"Are you ok?" Hermione asked as soon as they were far enough away that no one would be able to hear them.

"I'm fine," Harry said automatically.

"We both saw the grimace when it mentioned you getting punched Harry. It's only us here, it's ok to admit if you're hurt," Ron said.

"I'm fine. Really. It barely hurt; it was just a shock is all. I'd forgotten I would feel the pain from the book. And it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Are you going to be ok with the other injuries you get in this book?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed.

"Maybe. I know that the Quidditch injuries weren't bad, so they'll be fine, and nothing terrible happened during classes. The troll shouldn't be too bad either, I didn't get hurt, not really, just shaken up a bit. It would only be my scar in the forest and everything that happened against Quirrell and Voldemort," he replied slowly, trying to remember everything that happened in his first year and the injuries he had gotten from it.

"Are you sure?" Ron double-checked. Harry nodded.

"I will be asking about your home life later Harry. I want to help you and for that you need to admit what happened, not just let us hear from the books," Hermione said. Harry sighed but nodded again. He knew that Hermione just wanted to help, and he appreciated it.

"Come on, let's go sit down again," he said, leading them back over to their couch. They sat down, ignoring the questioning looks from Mr and Mrs Weasley, and Remus, just in time for Filius to cast the spell again to start the next chapter.