Chapter 1

The days after Harry's name came out of the goblet were harsh. Well, maybe harsh was a bit too soft of a word to describe it. Not only had Harry lost his best friend; but he had actually seemed to have become the most hated person in the school.

It was more often than not, that Harry had to deal with the slander and snide remarks of the students, and some of the teachers alike.

Honestly, it was kind of mind boggling, Harry could understand why the Puff's hated him, heck, he even sort of understood the reason of hatred from Slytherin. He himself felt that his feud with Malfoy (no matter how unreasonable) would be the cause of that.

But, as for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor…Gryffindor!? What in Merlin's beard could have caused that?

Not all was bad though. One day walking down the hall, Harry had come across an argument. Puff versus Puff, and best friends to boot.

"Of course he did Susan," were the words that he heard, as he approached a turn in the corridor. He was on his way to transfiguration class this day, and was almost late, but it was his name that made him stop dead in his tracks.

"You should understand that Harry Potter is, and always will be, quite egocentric. He has always, and I mean always put himself into some sort of crazy spotlight."

Harry was sure that he knew the voice; but with as little interaction as he had had with other houses, he was not exactly sure that he knew who she was."

"Come on Hannah," ah, right, it was Hannah Abbot, resident gossip of Hufflepuff, he was not surprised by her description of him. She seemed to follow the majority belief of this school, and he could not help but remember his second year. A year in which she believed that he had attacked Justin Finch-Fletchley.

Ever since then, she still tended to avoid him, despite the fact that Justin was one of the few people he was still on good terms with.

"Hannah, I don't understand your rationale here…" Susan replied, with bated breath.

Susan Bones, resident redhead, quite a few of those at this school; but unlike the others. She actually was quite thoughtful. From what he had seen anyway.

"Seriously Hannah, can you at least name one time that he had actually tried to stand on top, and had not seemed to have been pushed there, I mean, the boy hardly ever talks to people outside of a small group," Susan argued, and a warm feeling began to bubble up.

This was the first time he had actually walked in on someone defending him.

"Everybody talks about it, and it would not be true—"

"It would not be true if they had said it? Come on Hannah, I thought you got over that crush on Draco. Morgana knows, he is nothing but a lying arse, that can do nothing other than to rely on his father's "good name"."

"Geez" Susan sighed. "I thought when you started crushing on Cedric, that you would have…"

"Alright, I see how this is. But Han, you should really start looking at this through a broader perspective."

"And what about you, Suzy? Defending Potter to the end. Can you say that it is not about that Harry Potter worship you have had since we were young?" she asked, intriguing Harry; but also frightening him, a bit.

"No Hannah, I got over that ages ago. I have never even talked to the boy; but you know just as well as I do, exactly how my Aunty raised me."

At this point, Harry sighed in relief, but could still feel the tension at the mention of her aunt, he could feel the air around them get a bit chillier, and wondered exactly what that was about.

"Yeah, I know," Hannah replied, in a much more somber voice.

"And what exactly do you think she would say, if she heard you right now?" a certain smugness, crept into Susan's voice as she asked this.

"She would say to stick to the facts, and if I were to argue with her, she would whip my butt bloody."

At this, Susan started to laugh. "At least you don't have to live with her."

"Yeah, but seriously, you do realize that I got over that Harry Potter worship a long time ago right…Hannah?" this time there was a bit of worry that etched into her voice, and it made him curious. Harry did not want another "Potter worshipper" as Snape and Malfoy would call them. But this was bordering on fear that he heard from her.

"Yeah, I know," Hannah chuckled. Back in second year, I do believe it disappeared around the time Ginny Weasley entered our school," Hannah chuckled.

"Yeah, I was never that bad, and even got over idealizing him by the end of first year. But Ginevra, that girl has it bad," the girls chuckled as she said this; but at that moment Harry knew he had to get to class fast. So, steeling himself, thinking about Professor McGonagall's ire, he turned the corner. Barely able to meet either of the girl's eyes. He pressed on. But still, he was able to see Susan's blush, as well as a contemptable scowl from Hannah. But that didn't bother him too much, and he almost skipped towards his class.

HPatWT-S

"Come on Harry," Fred invited, as he sat in the common room. "Let us go kip a bit of food from the elves." This wasn't the first time he was invited, in truth, it surprised him the first time he actually saw Dobby down there, as he took care of a drunken Winky.

But as sad as that sight was, he just hoped that Hermione never learned of his nightly visits.

It was not that Harry had anything against Hermione's agenda, S.P.E.W. but he felt that she was going about it the wrong way.

No, he felt that she should take a more long term approach, since after he saw them in their habitat. Basically, they seemed happy with their enslavement, and something about that made him feel, that pushing them, would only earn their ire.

Heck, Dobby was ostracized for his freedom. And Hermione tended to force her own idealism on others.

That was something he could not see ending very well.

"Hey Fred?" Harry yelled out.

"Fred, what do you mean Fred? I'm George."

Harry was about seventy percent sure that it was Fred; but he could never be fully sure.

"No Fred, I am George," the twin said as he entered the common room.

"But if you are George," the other twin asked, "Then why do my skivvies say Fred on them?"

Okay, this was going into a level of territory that Harry wanted nothing to do with. So up he hopped, as he made his way out the common room.

As he made his way to the back of the Fat Lady, he covered himself with his cloak and made his way out.

Unlike Harry, the twins' had a multitude of ways to bribe the Fat Lady; but none of them were ever needed, they just went and did stuff like convince Sir Cadogen to go spend a night wooing her, or get others to bring her a nice painting of wine. Two of the most desirable things to her.

In return, she loved them. She loved them like no other student to grace the halls since she was painted there. And to top it off, she wouldn't even out them to Professor McGonnagall. But she would if it were him, hence the reason he veiled himself in front of them.

But he never once worried they would be bothered by such a thing. The only thing he had to worry about was the fact that they wanted to study it. It was never to any avail; but they said that in itself taught them much.

It was odd for Harry, he often would look towards Ron, expecting to get a grin or his goofy old thumbs up that Ron had often given him; but now he could do nothing other than to hang out with people who did not detest him, and he was grateful to them for that.

Grateful…but still felt lonely.