Even though Harry was certain he performed the glamor charm correctly-after all, no one else had noticed any change in his appearance-he was equally certain that Dumbledore could tell that something was off.

He'd once told Harry that he didn't need a cloak to become invisible. Of course, he could have meant that Harry, in his desire to see his parents in the mirror, hadn't seen the headmaster in the same room. Or, it could mean that one of the most powerful wizards who had ever lived might know magic that few other wizards could dream of.

In which case, it really should have fallen on him to eliminate all of the horcruxes, even the one that had been on Harry's head.

They'd only exchanged a few words in the week Harry had been back. After passing each other in the hallway and uttering greetings, Dumbledore had casually mentioned that Harry must have had an eventful holiday.

It could have been nothing. Maybe.

"D'you think he knows?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione in the common room on Thursday night. The room was quite a bit less full than usual, and Hermione had used her spell to prevent them from being overheard.

They shrugged.

"He's Dumbledore, Harry," Ron pointed out, taking a large bite of a chocolate frog. "He knows practically everything that goes on here."

"Not what Harry does during his holidays," Hermione protested, "although I wouldn't put it past him to see past glamours."

The two of them had been rather dumbfounded that Harry had gone under the knife-quite literally-and that Snape had performed the surgery.

"Blimey, I can't believe you trusted him cutting you open!" Ron had gasped. "He might have cut your face off."

"Not with Remus and Sirius there, he wouldn't," Harry grinned. "Didn't even take out my eye."

He'd studied himself in a spare mirror without the glamour. Really, Snape had done an excellent job. There was no scar whatsoever, and on his forehead, no scar looked back at him. Before starting school, the scar had been the one thing he really liked about his appearance. The perfect lightning bolt made him look so different from others, and the fact that Aunt Petunia hated it made him treasure it even more. Of course, once he'd known that it was the mark of Voldemort's trying to kill him, he'd liked it less, and the oggling of everyone who ever met him for the first time had made him wish that he could magic it away.

Well, Snape had done that for him, and he was grateful. Perhaps, if he truly survived and Voldemort died, there might come a time where people wouldn't be able to see that he was the Boy Who Lived without just looking at him. After all, messy black hair and green eyes weren't nearly as unusual as a lightning bolt scar.

His other scar, the one caused by Umbridge, was also completely gone, thanks to Sirius's potions. The last of the lines had faded from his skin over his Christmas holidays.

Harry felt rather like an entirely new person.

"Yeah, well, I still wouldn't let him near me with a knife," Ron insisted. "You'll use the glamour forever, won't you?"

Harry shrugged. "Until I finish school, for sure. Afterwards, I dunno. That's a ways off."

"Can we see what it looks like? When it disappears tonight?" Hermione asked, eagerly.

The glamour Harry used was a sixteen hour one, so it would be gone by ten that evening.

"Sure, but we have to be in my bed, with the curtains drawn," Harry told them.

Hermione nodded, then glanced at her watch. "We still have a couple of hours to go, then."

"Did you see the notice for Apparition lessons?" Ron asked, changing the subject. "Twelve galleons seems pretty pricey, but Mum says she'll pay for the class. Told me that all my brothers took it, and it was important for me to learn in a class setting."

Harry had seen the notice, but as he wouldn't turn seventeen until late July, he hadn't paid it much attention. Besides, his experiences with side along Apparition made him uneasy about the method of travel.

"My parents are going to pay for it as well," Hermione said, eagerly. "They told me that I have to be their 'ride' after I get my license."

"Does it work on muggles?" Harry asked, surprised.

"It does, although they can hardly do it by themselves," she explained. "I-"

"-Read about it in the library," Harry and Ron finished for her.

She looked mildly put out, but couldn't quite hide a smile.

"Are you going to sign up for them, Harry?" she asked.

Harry shrugged. "Might as well, if you two are. Mind you, I didn't much care for side along Apparition the couple of times I used it. Much prefer brooms."

"Sure, but not everyone has a Firebolt, or even a Nimbus," Ron pointed out, "and besides, Apparition is loads faster. Course, the twins did it every few seconds when they first got their licenses. Got a bit bored of it after a few weeks. Or fed up with Mum telling them off."

"They must like living on their own then?" Harry asked.

"Sure, but not so much doing their own laundry," Ron laughed. "It's not hard, really, but they never bothered to learn those housekeeping skills. Same with stuff like peeling potatoes or carrots. Ginny and I asked them for help over Christmas with some of that, and they refused. Ginny thought they didn't know how."

"Boys," muttered Hermione.

"Well, it's not like we think much about how our beds get made and stuff," Ron protested. "Right, Harry?"

Harry looked uncomfortable. "Er, well, the Dursleys had me doing stuff like make breakfast for awhile. Cooking bacon and eggs and stuff."

"Really? Couldn't your aunt do that on her own?" Ron asked, befuddled. "It's not like there were that many of you."

"Yeah, well." Harry shrugged. "She mostly stopped after I started school."

Hermione opened her mouth, then shut it.

"Well. I guess we'll all sign up for the lessons, then?" Hermione asked, after a moment.

They all agreed.

Before they said good night, Harry showed his friends his scar-free face. They studied him so carefully that he was glad that he was going to be using a glamour for the rest of the school.

Finally, he pulled his bangs down, which would have covered the scar, had he still had one.

"All right, I'm not a zoo creature," he told them, with a laugh. "It's still me, I reckon."

"Yeah, only without the bits of Voldemort in you," Ron teased, giving him a light punch on the shoulder.

Hermione looked mystified. "D'you know, I wonder if you can still speak Parseltongue, or have that mental link to Voldemort."

"Well, Voldemort's been using Occlumency against me-"

"Rude git," Ron interrupted, jokingly.

Harry couldn't hide a laugh. "And I haven't been around snakes, so I don't know about Parseltongue. Kind of a cool talent, being able to talk to snakes, but if it's gone as well as the connection to Voldemort, I'd say it's more than a fair trade."

Neither Ron nor Hermione could argue with that logic, and after a few more minutes, they headed to their own beds.

Harry expected to have trouble falling asleep, but his cat, Tuxy, was almost as nice as Sirius. Not as warm, of course, but the purring was quite relaxing.

Also, his cat didn't snore.

Next up: Harry and Sirius tell everything to Dumbledore, who has a proposal for testing whether or not the operation was a success. Fortunately, it's painless.

Did I mention that reviews are more than welcome? :)