Gryffindor Tower

"That's not all though, Sir," Harry piped up from where he'd been sitting. He'd realised what it was that Snape was doing immediately, having learnt a lot about Legilimency and Occlumency from Hermione over the summer break via hundreds of letters. "The Slytherins… they-,"

"I know, Harry. I've been observing some very poor conduct between my snakes and Draco – all one sided, mind. Which is why I have decided to have you sleep in my quarters," here Severus addressed his godson.

Draco, who was busy calming his erratic breathing and wiping away his tears, nodded. "I'd like that, Uncle Sev. Thank you."

Harry was stunned. First his most hated professor calls him by his given name, and then he shows real kindness by offering to keep Draco with him. Merlin, his world was being tipped upside down.

-0-

Harry shut the door to his professor's private rooms, leaving Snape and Draco to sort living arrangements out, and paced back to his common room. Today had been full of surprises, both good and bad, and he needed time to process it all.

He had planned to go straight to the third-year boy's dorm, which he shared with Ron, Neville Longbottom, a round faced, rather inept blond boy and Seamus Finnigan, a spritely Irishman, but those plans were scuppered almost as soon as he stepped into Gryffindor Tower.

"Oi, Harry! Is it true you've been hanging around with Malfoy? What was lunch all about?" Dean Thomas, a dark, rather rude boy who Harry thought really belonged in Slytherin, queried disgustedly as Harry stepped through the portrait of the Fat Lady.

The 'goodnight, guys' Harry had had on the tip of his tongue died off, replaced instead with an unspoken string of profanity. Shit. How was he supposed to explain this?

He opted for honesty, without giving too much away. "Yeah, it's true. Got a problem?" Several people nodded and narrowed their eyes. "I don't know if any of you thick-headed lot realised, but he's not the same as he used to be. He's changed, and for the better." Or not, he thought, as he remembered the reasons for his change. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Before Harry could reach the stairs up to his dormitory though, Dean had pushed in front of him, blocking his path. "And what if we do mind, huh? You wanna hang around with a slimy snake and expect us to be fine with that? Are you bloody mad! Oh, wait. Of course you are. No mummy and daddy to lead your way, no wonder you're so trusting. Perfect Potter who can't do any wrong, well you're wrong now! We don't want you sleeping in our dorm – who knows what ideas you've got from Malfoy. Who knows what he's put you up to!"

"Bugger off, Thomas. I really don't need this right now," Harry said through grit teeth, trying to barge past. The slimmer boy stayed where he was though, forcing Harry to lose his fragile temper. Before the other boy could react, Harry had shoved him to the side and stormed up the stairs, slamming the door with an unearthly force, unintentionally 'proving' their point that it was all Draco's fault.

-0-

Rummaging around in his trunk, Harry swore. Where the hell was his homework? Deciding he'd find it later, he let the carrier shut with a dull 'thunk' and grabbed it under his arm, making sure he had everything from his dresser and bedside table, and that his wand was still tucked in his back pocket. He wasn't staying here any longer if this is how they were going to treat him. No way.

With that in mind, he pulled the door open and stormed down the stairs, barging past anyone who dared get in his way, and left through the common room door, intent on not coming back until they had changed their disgustingly Gryffindor attitude that all Slytherins were evil. He'd seen proof twice over tonight that that was untrue.

Stomping angrily up the changing castle steps to the third-floor corridor, after deciding that was where he was going to keep himself, Harry bumped into something solid, tall and black. Shit. It was after curfew and he was out. Harry hadn't even thought of that.

Looking up and preparing himself for the incoming detention and stupid questions about why he had his trunk, Harry was surprised to find Professor Snape looking down at him.

"Oh."

"Oh, indeed Mr. Potter. What, may I ask, are you doing wandering around after dark with your trunk, no less?" He didn't look angry, but he made sure not to look happy either. Couldn't be breaking all the rules for the boy in one day now, could he?

"Dean Thomas confronted me about being friends with Draco. They've kicked me out of the dorms so I'm going to the Room of Requirement, hopefully to get some sleep."

Running a stressed hand through his lank hair, Severus decided on something. "Come with me, Mr. Potter. I'm sure I have somewhere far safer you can sleep."

"Y-you don't have to, Professor," Harry said, not wanting to put anyone out. He would be perfectly safe, he was sure.

Severus turned back to face Harry abruptly, scaring the boy into dropping his trunk and covering his head, waiting to be hit. He too, was abused, and this just confirmed Severus' fears.

"Harry. Lower your shield, child," Severus asked, slowly approaching where the huddled boy knelt, erratic magic having thrown up a Protego shield over him for protection. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're at Hogwarts, with mean old snarky Snape."

At this, Harry's shield crumbled, and the boy looked up, fear intense in his gorgeous eyes. "S-sorry Sir."

Inside, he was kicking himself. How could he have lost control? Now Snape would know, and that would take his attention off Draco, who really needed their Professor's help.

He deserved what he got, for being a freak. Draco didn't. Draco was good.