Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter and anything that's recognizable belongs to J.K. Rowling.

CHAPTER 9 – Friends No More

Harry arrived in the Headmasters office. He was already going through possible scenarios in his head. The worst that could happen is that he would get expelled, but then he would just go and hang out with Alexia. He definitely wouldn't go back to the Dursleys. When he looked up at Dumbledore, he conjured up a seat for Harry and he sat down.

"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked, holding out a dish.

"No thanks", Harry said.

"Very well. Now Professor Snape, would you like to tell me what this is all about?" the Headmaster asked, looking over at Snape.

"Well it seems that your precious Mr. Potter was not on school grounds this evening" Snape said.

"Well. This is definitely not what I was expecting, but I'm sure Mr. Potter here has a valid explanation" the Headmaster said, looking expectantly at Harry.

"Well you see…the carriages had already left, and well I…umm…fell asleep on some rocks, and when I woke up it was already late…so I decided to walk back" Harry tried to explain, hoping Dumbeldore wouldn't catch his lie.

"You know as well as I do, Dumbledore, that he is obviously lying" Snape tried to convince Dumbledore. Dumbledore, however, looked over Harry and then replied, "Is this true? Are you lying or did this truly occur?" Harry wasn't sure how to reply, but he decided to at least say something.

"No, its true. It really did happen" Harry said, already feeling guilty for lying, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Very well. Although this was not done on purpose, you were still off school grounds, meaning that you will have detention. Professor Snape…" the Headmaster trailed off, looking at Snape.

"Yes, you will have detention with me, tomorrow. 7 o'clock sharp!" Snape said.

"Yes sir" Harry replied.

"Good. Now you better go to bed Harry. We don't want you to fall asleep again somewhere" Dumbledore said, looking at Harry with a twinkle in his eyes. Harry then realized that Dumbledore knew that he was lying. Harry didn't hesitate, and left the office. A detention wasn't that bad, even if it was with Snape.


The detention turned out to be horrible. Snape had yelled at him, and the cauldrons that he had to clean, were almost impossible to clean. Harry was really upset; Snape had purposefully given Harry the worst cauldrons possible, and then got upset at him, when he didn't finish. The next evening, Harry was, again, sitting on the ledge on the Astronomy Tower, drink in hand. It was the chilly wind that made Harry decide to go back inside. He went up to his dorm, only to find everyone asleep. Harry was actually really glad that no one was up. Then no one could disturb him. He stayed up 'till around 5 in the morning.

He was fiercely shaken to wake up. When he opened his eyes, he came face to face with an angry Ron.

"What is this?" Ron asked, holding one of Harry's empty bottles. Harry silently cursed under his breath. He must have forgotten that bottle when he cleaned everything up. He decided to play innocent.

"I don't know" Harry said.

"Don't lie to me. I know it's yours. It was by your bed" Ron said, anger evident in his voice.

"Anyone could have dropped it there" Harry argued back.

"Next time, don't lie to your friends. If your friends were at all important to you, you wouldn't lie. I don't know what's gotten into you, but ever since we've come back, you've been different" Ron said.

"Honestly, I'm not lying" Harry tried again, worried about what Ron might do.

"Don't lie. When you think your friends are important to you again, then come and let us know, because I'm not going to be your friend, if you don't consider us your friends" Ron said. Harry was about to interrupt, but Ron held up his hand.

"And by the way, next time you might want to use a freshening charm, since you reek like booze" Ron said, and left a gaping Harry behind.

Harry cursed. Shit! Now they know! Harry thought.

Throughout the day, Harry tried talking to Ron, but Ron wouldn't listen. Harry tried to tell him, that it was the first time, but Ron didn't seem to believe him. Ron just kept telling Harry that friends wouldn't lie to each other. On his way to dinner, Harry saw Ron walking down the stairs.

"Ron!" Harry called after him. Ron turned around, glared at Harry, turned around and just kept going. This stopped Harry in his tracks. He had hoped he could get Ron to listen to him, but obviously not. Harry debated about telling Ron what really was going on, but Harry realized that he couldn't. They wouldn't understand. By the time evening came, Harry was completely distraught. He felt like he had no friends here, and the friends he did have, he couldn't see. That night he went up to the tower. For the first time, in a while, he cut. He made several cuts on his arm. Harry took out a bottle and a joint. Harry was so 'out of it' that he never noticed the door to the Astronomy Tower opening.

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Professor Snape saw the door to the Astronomy Tower slightly ajar. He smiled; another student he can give detention out to and take points away from for being out of bed. But nothing could prepare him for the site that met him at the top. There he saw Harry Potter sitting on a ledge, bottle in hand, joint in his mouth, arm hanging down with several bleeding cuts, and a piece of glass on the floor.

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