Disclaimer: That which you read, I do not own

Sorry, no disclaimer poem, I wanted to get this out before the computer labs closed tonight.

Alright, another chapter is out. I actually did not expect to get this done so soon, but my fingers just would not let me stop typing until I got the story out. I hope this clears up a few questions, but I have a feeling that it will raise even more. Ah well, what is a writer to do? Shall we continue? Here we go!

COMINIUS:

Away! the tribunes do attend you: arm yourself

To answer mildly; for they are prepared

With accusations, as I hear, more strong

Than are upon you yet.

CORIOLANUS:

The word is 'mildly.' Pray you, let us go:

Let them accuse me by invention, I

Will answer in mine honour.

-Shakespeare's Coriolanus

Chapter 6

It was approaching noon the following day, and Harry was finishing up his work for the morning. The teenager was quite thankful that he now had a schedule to go by, although he was rather unhappy that Gobby did not listen to him and asked Snape about it anyway.

He had an easier work load than he had expected. Wake up, eat, go out and garden for a few hours, for the hottest part of the day Harry would be tucked away in his room eating lunch and studying his books, then when it cooled off he would go back out until the sun began to set. The rest of the evening would be spent reading, at least until he finished the books Snape told him to read. Finally, just before bed Harry would study from his occlumency book for fifteen to twenty minutes and then meditate for ten more minutes before he fell asleep.

It was fairly easy, it was very scheduled, and Harry had a feeling that he was missing something.

It was growing warm and the young man's stomach was telling him that it was time for lunch, Harry stood and waved his wand almost lazily watching as the dirt left his clothes and a fresh, clean sensation replaced the sticky, sweaty feeling he had obtained from the hard work.

Harry did not know how he had ever lived without cleaning charms before he found out that he was a wizard.

The young man looked to the sky as a breeze hit his face and briefly cooled him from the unrelenting heat of the sun while his untamable hair danced in the wind. As his gaze focused, Harry caught sight of an owl in the distance and watched its progress.

It was not an unfamiliar sight here; the young man had seen quite a few owls slipping in and out of a high tower that he assumed was the owlery. Harry found it strange that so many of the animals would come and go without gliding through one of the windows to deliver mail, but he had long ago realized that he did not really know enough about the wizarding world to question the normality of certain actions.

As the owl got closer the appearance became familiar and Harry brightened. It was Hedwig, he was sure of it. When his owl was nearing the house she seemed to slow down, and finally stop in mid-flight still flapping her wings determinately.

It would have been humorous if not for the implications. For a few moments, Harry was sure that Snape must have set up wards to block off all contact Harry could have from his friends. Finally, Hedwig realized that she would be unable to get to Harry and she glided into the tower. Harry watched as the snowy owl landed on the windowsill and seemed to glare at Harry as if to say 'Well, I'm up here, what are you waiting for.'

That was all it took before Harry tore into the small door that opened to the stairs he usually took to his room. If Harry's guess was correct, the same stairs would take him directly to the owlery.

Harry was aching for some contact with his old school mates. It had only been a couple days since he had seen his friends, but it really felt like a life time ago, and Harry really needed his friend's research skills if he was ever going to find out the limits on this debt he owed Snape.

It seemed to take forever before Harry finally reached the top of the multiple flights of stairs he had to climb, but finally he arrived at the entry to the owlery. Harry pulled the door open with a jerk, strode in to meet his owl, and then stopped dead in his tracks.

Harry had never in all his years at Hogwarts seen so many red envelopes in one place as there were lying on the floor of the room he was now in. There had to be more than a dozen piled up in the middle of the floor. The cool breeze blew in from the open windows causing the door to slam shut behind him.

"Crap" Harry muttered as the noise somehow seemed to alert the howlers to his presence. They couldn't be for him, how in the world could they be for him? Harry had not even been at Snape's house for two full days, but there they were slowly, almost timidly moving towards Harry.

"Crap, Crap, Crap!" He only had a few moments to decide what to do. Harry really did not want to be caught up in the owlery, especially if his mail was being diverted. Being able to mail his friends without anyone having knowledge of it might just be advantage he needed to stay sane, and stay informed. Besides who was to say that his mail would not be intercepted if anyone knew he was writing it.

Okay, options. Well, he could incinerate the lot of them, he could cast silencio on each of them, but Harry was too curious as to why he was receiving so many howlers. He made his decision. Immediately Harry cast silencing charms on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the owlery finishing just moments before one of the howlers flew straight at his face, ripped open, and nearly deafened him with accusations and insults.

"SPOILED SELF-RIGHTEOUS BRAT. AFTER ALL YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN, HOW DARE YOU TAKE THE LAW INTO YOUR OWN HANDS. I BET YOU DESERVED EVERYTHING YOU GOT YOU UNGRATEFUL…" It went on, the volume vociferous. Harry was confused, if anyone had taken the law into his own hands it would have been Snape with his life debt thing. Or was this about Voldemort?

"MURDERER, FREAK OF A WIZARD, I HOPE YOU GET KISSED, AZKABAN IS TOO GOOD FOR THE LIKES OF YOU!" A female voice roared. Harry stepped backwards, his back pressed up against the closed door.

What the hell is her problem? Harry thought. Did she want to live in pain and terror under an insanely evil dark wizard?

YOU DID NOT DESERVE TO BE RAISED BY SUCH HONORABLE, HARD WORKING PEOPLE, ALWAYS WHINING FOR ATTENTION YOU ARE. DO YOU POSSIBLY BELIEVE THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU RID THE WORLD OF HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED THAT YOU WERE ABOVE THE LAW AS WELL? Howler after howler ripped apart only to be replaced by another blasting out fresh invectives and allegations.

And Harry still did not know what they were talking about.

LAZY, GOOD FOR NOTHING, WASTE OF MAGIC. YOUR PARENTS WOULD BE SO ASHAMED! PROBABLY NEVER DID AN OUNCE OF WORK IN YOUR LIFE AND YOU THINK YOU CAN GO AROUND AS IF YOU OWN THE WORLD. I HOPE THEY THROW THE BOOK AT YOU!

Finally the last one shredded itself in midair leaving Harry trembling and confused. What did he do to warrant such hatred, but then again, the wizarding world never did need an excuse to turn on him. Potter pounding must be in style again. 14 howlers, and him only being here for two days. Harry wondered if it was a record.

Harry closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, just as he was beginning to get himself back under control, the beating of wings caused him to open his eyes again. An unfamiliar owl was flying through the window, a red envelope in its claw. Just as the bird reached the inside of the room it let go of its parcel and made a sharp turn, flying back the way it had come.

Harry narrowed his eyes as the fresh howler zipped through the air towards him. Having enough of the unfounded insinuations, Harry raised his wand and incinerated the malicious missive mid-flight.

Harry quickly looked around to see if he could spot any other hints of red that wanted to attack him. None, Harry almost let out a sigh of relief, but instead held his breath as his eyes caught sight of a pile of innocent looking white envelopes.

Great. He thought to himself. All he needed was for someone to send him poison; he remembered how that had happened to Hermione in their fourth year.

Harry carefully walked over to the pile and glance at the writing. Sure enough, in various swirls of handwriting, his name adorned every letter that he could see. Harry sighed and left the pile on the ground, he was just thankful not to see any hexers, the green envelopes that shot a mild pain inducing spell at its victim. He had received one of those his seventh year, and his arm had been numb for almost an hour after the hexer cursed him.

Deciding not to deal with any more letters from people he did not know, Harry made his way over to the snowy owl perched on the windowsill. Hedwig reached our her leg as Harry untied the thick roll of parchment, then the owl hopped off the ledge and flew to rest on the boy's shoulder as he unrolled the parchment.

As the tightly wound roll loosened, a newspaper clipping fluttered to the floor. Harry glanced over the hand written letter to reaffirm his speculation that it was indeed from his friends before carefully bending down to retrieve the fallen paper.

Hedwig hooted indignantly at the sudden movement when Harry straighten, nipping his ear a little to hard to be comforting.

"Sorry girl." The boy murmured distractedly. As he sat down with his back leaning against the wall, legs crossed.

Hedwig complained again and hopped down to perch on the wizard's knee as his eyes moved rapidly over the parchment.

"Oh my God." Harry said, as he stopped scanning the long letter. Harry set the missive aside unfinished, and picked up the article that had been enclosed.

Boy-Who-Lived Kills Kin

Harry read through the article, his face growing paler by the moment. His only family had been murdered, the ministry had accused him of slaughtering them, even the muggle police were searching for him.

Harry felt his face burn, the article quoted some of his neighbors telling the whole world how his uncle claimed to send him to a school for criminals. Even the scruffy, threadbare attire he wore back there was included in the article, written in such a way that it hinted at him being unstable mentally.

No trial, the ministry was not even going to allow him a trial…something about stopping the next dark lord before he became too powerful.

Harry crumpled up the article in a fit of rage and threw it across the room, dislodging his owl from his knee.

Hedwig, having had enough of her inconsiderate master flew up into the rafters, knocking Harry in the head with her wing as she went.

Harry did not even notice. His family was dead. His family who hated him and did everything they could to make his life miserable had been murdered. Harry never thought that they would ever be able to hurt him more in their death then they ever had in their life.

And Snape, how he hated the man. Potter's gonna get the kiss, gonna go to jail…lets make sure he can't get away…make him miserable until the day…the wizarding world puts away…another innocent man. A snide voice taunted him inside his own head.

"WHAT THE HELL DID I EVER DO TO YOU?" Harry yelled to no one. "I'M NOT VOLDEMORT AND I'M NOT MY FATHER! I never even met the man…" his voice tapered off into a breathy whisper.

He couldn't take it any more, he could not stay up here in the owlery while people who never even met him sent him letter after letter telling how they had judged him guilty, guilty without any proof. He was irate, and staying here under the burden of the information he had acquired was causing him to act like a two year old with a temper tantrum, or perhaps like a psychopath kin killer. Oh but that would do well for his reputation.

He needed to calm himself. He would not be able to properly assess the situation unless he was calm. He also needed to finish Ron and Hermione's letter…perhaps when he was not in such a danger of ripping it to shreds in a fit of rage.

Harry slowly rose to his feet, clutching the now wrinkled letter from his friends in his clenched fist. The boy then cast a containment shield over the remaining letters piled on the floor just incase of any unfriendly substances that might possibly be coating the envelopes and then picked up the shielded letters. After accioing the offending article to look over again later when his head was clear, Harry canceled out the silencing charms he had placed around the owlery, and all but ran back to the safety of his room.

AN: Yay! Okay, with this chapter done a bit earlier than planned, I am not sure when the next one will be out. Plan for late next week or early the week after depending on how my classes go.

As always, thanks for the reviews! Reviews to writers are like lemon drops to Dumbledore. It's a craving.

Oh, if you are in for a bit of inane humor, take a look at my other fic Peeves' Poems. It is just an insane little idea that struck me one day, might make you laugh…or hit your head on the nearest available wall.