Sorry for the long wait. I finally got a good idea. It's shorter then the last but it was a good place to stop it. DDD will have to wait a little while yet, I'm still stuck on that.

Chapter 3

The walk was excruciatingly long and slow. Harry clung to Professor Snape like his life depended on it (and it probably did in the unpredictable castle). Every few steps he would stumble; his face felt so hot from embarrassment he thought it would explode. Finally after what he thought was an eternity, Professor Snape stopped.

"We're here; put your hand on the wall so I can key you to the wards." He said with no emotion in his voice. Hesitantly, Harry removed one of his hands from his professor and moved it forward until he could touch a cold and wet wall. Something swished by his ear, followed by an odd tingling in his hand, causing him to flinch at the noise and feeling. Stone became wood under his hand and Harry wished he could have seen the transformation. The wood pulled away from his hand and he quickly dropped it, not wanting to look more like a fool then he already did.

Prof. Snape pulled Harry through the door, closing it behind him, before stepping to the side a few feet so the boy stood alone. "The kitchen is directly to the right of you. You are not to go in there on your own until I'm sure you won't injure yourself." Snape began to explain. "It has a breakfast nook which separates it from the rest of the living room. Directly in line with the nook is the dining table; there are five feet between the two." Harry nodded in understanding. "Ten feet further back is the couch surrounded on both sides by armchairs. In the center is a coffee table and six feet from that is the fireplace. To the left are three doors, the fist is my potions lab, which is off limits to you, there are too many toxic ingredients in there. The second is your room, accommodated with a bed, wardrobe, desk, and in suite bathroom. The final door is my bedroom, you are only allowed in there in case of emergency, and only then when I'm in there. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Harry answered quietly.

"To the right are two more doors. The first is our study; your desk is located to the right. The second is the Library. You're allowed in both whenever you feel like it." With that, Snape left him alone to explore his new home in peace.

Harry's room was set up very simple; the bed was directly across from the door, up against the wall, with a night stand on the right side. A desk stood under the magic window to the right; how he knew it was a magic window, he couldn't tell you, but it had a sort of tingly feel to it. To the left stood a wardrobe and a door, which led into a simple bathroom.

When he was done with his tour of the room, he plopped himself down on the bed in exhaustion and let sleep lay claim to him.


Bright lights flashed across the night sky, hitting objects, people and animals. Screams echoed through the crisp fall air, sending a chill down Harry's back. Tall figures dressed in black cloaks held the wands creating the colorful lights towards helpless families, who huddled together or screamed and thrashed around on the ground. Buildings burned as smoke rose into the air, taking the scent of death with it to spread through and passed the small village.


"Aaah!" Harry bolted up in his bed, sweat plastering his hair to his forhead and running down his back, making his shirt cling to him uncomfortably. He thrashed around and screamed again as a set of hands grabbed a hold of him.

"Calm down, Potter. It was just a bad dream." A voice said off to his right. He knew that voice though, it was Professor Snape, come to his rescue again. With a strangled sob, Harry threw himself at his professor and buried his head into the man's strong chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Snape asked, surprise evident in his voice, as he brought his arms around the shaking teen. He received a mumbled reply about 'eaters, kill, and people'. Gently, Snape pulled Harry from his chest. "Say that again."

"The D-death Eat-ters were k-killing people in a v-village somew-where." Harry repeated through his hiccupping sobs.

"It was probably just a nightmare, Potter. The Death Eaters haven't been active since you defeated the Dark Lord at the Ministry this past June." Snape said in a soothing voice as he rubbed the frightened teens back. Harry nodded. "Well let's go eat lunch, Potter." Snape pulled Harry off the bed, and went ahead to allow him to move at his own pace.


Lunch was a messy affair. After Snape explained that his food would always be placed to correlate with the face of a clock, in this case: chicken at 9 o'clock, veggies at 5 o'clock, and roll at 1 o'clock, Harry slowly worked his way through the meal. It wasn't as messy as breakfast, but Harry could still feel the heat in his cheeks.

After getting himself cleaned up, Harry joined Professor Snape on the couch for his first lesson on Braille. He found himself absalutley fascinated by the patterns of the raised dots and took to the lesson easily and quickly. He went over 'A' through 'H' over and over until he was certain he had memorized them. At the end of the lesson, when Snape tested him on the first few letters, Harry could proudly say he had gotten them all right. Even Snape was surprised by how easily Harry took to learning the new language.

A soft knock broke through the silence that had descended between the two after the lesson. Harry heard the swish of Professor Snape's robes and the almost inaudible click of his boots as he moved to answer the door. He tuned out what was happening at the door as he went over the eight sets of dots on the first page of the Braille learning book.

The sound of three sets of footsteps approaching pulled him from his studying. "Your friends are here." Snape stated before taking his seat again.

"Hi Harry." Hermione's soft voice said from over his left shoulder.

"Hey Mate." Ron's slightly rough voice said from just to the right of Hermione's.

"Hi." Harry replied softly. "You can sit if you want, it might not be as akward as standing." His friends laughed softly as he heard them move to sit on either side of him. "How were classes?"

"Terrible!" Ron groaned from his right. " We got a boat load of homework, and the new Defense teacher is a complete idiot. He's almost, just like Lockhart."

"He's not that bad Ronald. And of course we have a lot of homework, N.E.W.T.S are next year." Hermione admonished softly.

"I heard next year's load is supposed to be twice as bad as this year." Harry supplied, smiling as Ron groaned.

"I took notes for you Harry, so you don't fall behind. I even translated them into Braille already form a spell I found in the Library." Russling papers to his left told him that Hermione was pulling the translated notes from her book bag.

"Good," Harry said happily, "I might be able to read it by next week."

"Already?" Ron asked, astonishment clear in his voice.

"I already memorized the first eight letters." Harry gave a startled cry as Hermione threw her arms around him.

"Oh Harry, I'm so proud of you." Harry felt his blood rush to his cheeks. "Maybe I should learn too, then we can write to each other without any of the other students knowing what we're saying. What do you think Ron?"

"Sure," Ron said, dreading learning something else on top of the course work he already had.

They talked until Professor Snape ushered Ron and Hermione out for dinner.