It was rather a big deal for Harry to go to Kenny to get his help signing up for track and field. He had to wait for the right time when Kenny would be too busy to be rude and yet within reach of an adult so he wouldn't be unhelpful. In the end, what Harry got from Kenny was an impolite direction to the coach for that sport, and told to take it up with him instead. So at dinner, Harry asked the nearest person to point out the coach for track and field, and he directed him to Coach – it's what everyone called him, apparently.

Harry was rather glad that he got a bit of conversation at the table that night, so it seemed Kenny's ban on him had lifted a little. All through dinner, though, Harry kept his eye out for Pete, and was rewarded with a view of him with his friends a few tables away, but Pete didn't notice him at all, which sobered Harry up a bit and got his head down from the clouds.

Harry waited until Coach got up to leave, then met him by the doors and, after a quick introduction, was told he needed a physical from the school's doctor before he could tryout. That idea greatly turned Harry off the notion of taking up a sports hobby, and the whole of the rest of the day was spent feeling quite disappointed.

It wasn't until meeting Marty that Harry got any good news at all that day. She told him she could give him a waiver from having to take the physical to join practice, but he still couldn't compete in any competitions until he got an exam from the doctor. Harry was so thrilled with this that he walked into his dorm with a smile on his face, still holding the waver she wrote out for him during their session in his hand. Honestly, he should have been wiser than to walk in with that smile, because it peaked Kenny's interest.

"What are you grinning about, Potter?" Kenny asked.

"Nothing," Harry said, and sobered up his face, trying to look like it was any other miserable day; Kenny left him alone when he was looking miserable, he had discovered.

Kenny slapped his book closed and looked at him sternly. "As your Dorm Leader, you're required to answer me, Potter. Did Coach let you on his team?"

Harry shrugged, slipping his waver form into his math text book. Almost instantly, though, Kenny tried to snatch it away, but Harry's Seeking ability had Kenny beat.

"That's mine!" Harry said, tucking the book into his bag.

"Show it to me, Potter! Right now!"

Harry glared at him, but Kenny really was mostly harmless, and he would probably blare his music all night if he didn't get what he wanted, so Harry passed the slip of paper over with a glare.

Once Kenny's eyes landed on the heading and the signature, he started laughing hysterically.

"You have a psych waver! Potter!" He said and then abruptly his laughing stopped and he took a step back from Harry. "Wait! You're seeing the psych doctor? And I didn't know about this? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I'm not –" Harry snatched the paper back from Kenny as fast as his Seeker's talents would allow. "– mental or anything, Kenny!"

"Then why are you seeing Rosenburge?" Kenny was very disturbed that he didn't know this information. The fact that Harry didn't even know he didn't know told him how very little they talked at all.

"That's none of your business," Harry said sternly and got up on his bed and put the letter in his bedside table. He ignored Kenny still standing near his bed and opened the closest text book to him and put his eyes to the pages.

Still, for nearly a minute, Kenny just stood there, until Harry couldn't take it and slammed his book closed.

"WHAT?"

Kenny suddenly grinned and dove onto him, which Harry wasn't expecting. Kenny got a hold of him in one of the wrestling locks Dudley had always caught Harry in when they were kids. Harry yelled as much as his airway would let him, and struggled fiercely to escape. Kenny wasn't like Dudley, though – he was a middle weight where Dudley was heavy weight, so Harry had more of a chance to push him off. But even so, every move Harry tried was countered easily thanks to Kenny's greatly superior knowledge of wrestling.

"Tell me, Potter! Why are you seeing the psych doc!"

Harry refused to say. He struggled hard and for a second he got his elbow free and got a nice jab into Kenny's side, but this made Kenny counter by flipping Harry over onto his stomach and then sitting on his upper thighs, locking both of Harry's arms painfully behind him so that he really couldn't move at all. He was totally pinned, except Kenny didn't have his mouth.

"Fuck you!" He shouted, and Kenny laughed.

"Come on, Potter, I can keep at this all night. Tell me, or I'll tell the whole school you have a psych waver!"

"Tell them whatever you want! Get off me!"

Kenny rocked from side to side, causing lightning pain to shoot up through Harry's shoulders thanks to the brutal way they were pinned, making him breathless.

"I don't know, I kind of like it here, and don't tell me you don't like it. Fags like you would pay to have me nail them, even if it is just on the matt!"

Embarrassment clouded Harry's vision, and he stopped struggling so fiercely. It was just the Smeltings way to call anyone who seemed different a fag, but the worse part for Harry was not knowing if he just seemed different to the guys here, or if they really knew he was starting to only like people of the male persuasion.

"Stop it, Kenny," he said, his voice barely audible. He had barely a breath of fight left in him; it seemed like he had been fighting being in this position nonstop for weeks now.

"Tell me first!" Kenny demanded, not giving an inch.

Harry cringed in pain, but he didn't see a way out, and he just wanted the pain in his shoulders to stop and Kenny to get up, so he finally consented and said softly – embarrassedly – through all the pain of this moment and the weeks before, "I was raped – at my other school – that's why I'm here."

It took Kenny a moment, but then he slowly loosened his grip on Harry's arms and released him, stepping off completely.

Harry sat up and rotated his shoulders gently, blinking the tears out of his eyes. He was unable to meet Kenny's face, so he just looked at his shoes.

"Go on, then," Harry said somberly, "let's hear it. Too weak to fight him off – Fag probably begged for it anyway. What, Kenny? What are you going to say next about me?"

Kenny shook his head, speechless. Harry glanced up at him and held his frozen expression. He almost couldn't stop his explanation that came next…

"Smeltings was the last place I could go. So I'm sorry I'm here, really I am…I would rather be where I was, but I just – can't! I'm sorry I have to room with you…I'm sorry I don't want the doctor to touch me…I'm sorry I need a psych waver just to run circles on a track field! Okay? But I just – can't! I can't do – anything – else!"

Sobs were about ready to wrack Harry's body, so instead of give into them, he ran from them. He wiped the tears that had fallen unbidden from his eyes, and got off his bed. Kenny didn't give him any trouble as he walked around him and out the door, and Harry didn't look back once after he slammed the door.

He went to the bathroom on that floor and hid in a stall for about an hour before his tears stopped and he could come out. He couldn't go back to his room and face the possibility that Kenny was still awake, so he went to Dudley's room and knocked on the door. It was some time before Dudley's roommate – Piers Polkiss, a boy from the school Harry went to when they were all children – answered.

"What?" He said, voice weak from sleep, and he rubbed at his eyes.

"Dudley here?" Harry wondered, speaking quietly in the still night.

"Yeah, Dud's here. He's sleeping!"

Harry pushed the door open and Piers let him in, probably because he was too tired to disagree. Harry went in the room and up to the bed with the large rotating lump.

"What'er you doing here, Harry?" Dudley asked, rolling over to look at him.

"Can I sleep in here? I can't go back to my room." Dudley sighed heavily and then shrugged his heavy shoulders and said, "Floor's free."

Harry sighed and laid out on the small carpet in the middle of the freezing cold floor, feeling too exhausted to care. Piers was still by the door and shut it with a roll of his eyes. He stepped over Harry without a word and got back into bed. It wasn't long before something heavy from Dudley's side of the room collided with his back, and he pulled the pillow under his head and fell instantly to sleep.