It had been a full week, and Harry’s friends were beginning to question why he was always doing his homework alone. Harry didn’t have anything substantial to say back to them, but he tried to never outright lie to them. That wasn't something he should do to friends unless he really had to. But his diversions to other topics were unsubtle and obvious enough for them to take the hint and not press for more.

For now, at least.

It was especially hard to withhold things from them, as the rest of the school was slowly turning against Harry as he had always expected that they would. Only his friends stuck with him and remained friendly to his somewhat surprise. Even Ron was back on his feet after recovering for a few days. It seems like he had been in a lot of pain but that there wouldn’t be any long lasting effects for him. Lucky.

It was strange, Harry wasn’t being rejected for the reason he had originally imagined when he arrived here. But it was happening anyway. He could see how the people of other houses shied away from him as if he were dangerous. All had heard of the 'Incident'. It had even been in the newspaper a few days ago. Harry hadn't read the article for obvious reasons, but it seemed fairly neutral not taking either Draco or Harry's side when reporting events from what he'd heard others say.

The Slytherins all hated his guts, looking decidedly unfriendly whenever they saw Harry. Several tried to trip him, but Harry was used to such tactics and effortlessly stepped around their poor attempts. Draco had returned to Hogwarts the next day with a new wand and had been bad mouthing Harry to anyone who would listen. Mostly to the Slytherins, but Harry saw some in the other houses listening in too.

In the current moment, Harry had accidentally set off Draco. Harry stared into Draco's livid face as he continued yelling at Harry in the hallway at full volume. All Harry had done was ask him if his old wand was as good as the new one. Harry was curious about the difference, it seems most wizards only ever had one wand in their lives.

Looking back, maybe Harry shouldn’t have asked Draco that in a big crowd of people after potions class. Draco was still berating him and had never answered Harry’s original question. His shrieking voice and diversions to unrelated topics to insult Harry reminded Harry of his Aunt Petunia’s rants. Draco didn't have nearly as much practice though and lost his train of thought several times as Harry watched and listened.

The surrounding students and Harry’s friends had been shocked initially at Draco’s loud outburst to Harry's question. Hermione had tried to say something to defend Harry earlier, but Draco had just shouted louder to insult Harry, and his voice drowned her out. After that Draco kept going, ignoring her interruption.

“What is… all of this about?”

Professor Snape swept out of his classroom and his gaze scanned the gathered crowd in the hallway surrounding Harry and Draco.

Draco stopped shouting, and for the first time seemed to notice the surrounding crowd.

“Professor. Harry Potter is mocking me. Asking me about my new wand as if he isn’t the one that snapped the old one!”

“I see. Anything to say for yourself, Potter?”

Harry’s skull tingled again as he met the professor’s eyes.

“I was just curious, Professor. If the bond with a wand is so important then is there a difference with the second one? Or is it just the same each time? I don’t know anyone else who has had two different wands. I thought Draco might know the answer.”

The hallway was silent. Draco seemed stunned at Harry’s honest response.

Snape’s voice drawled.

“Is that so… Well, detention it is then for a week. Starting today after classes. And fifty points from Gryffindor for not considering how your words would be perceived.”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry said.

Professor Snape raised his eyebrow at the crowd. “You all have class to go to don’t you? Best to get a move on.”

The hallway burst into motion as everyone began to rush to transfiguration class. Professor McGonagall had no tolerance for tardiness. Harry rushed away with the rest. That could have gone worse. Unfortunate about the house points though. The Gryffindors were giving him annoyed looks now.

But the Gryffindors were not too annoyed, luckily. Harry had earned a lot of points by answering questions correctly in class in their first week. Not fifty points but still a fair amount. He was competing with Hermione in earning the most house points so far, and it seemed Harry had lost their little contest. It had been nice to be seen as a good student for a while. Their first assignment grades hadn’t come back yet, and Harry knew everyone's illusion of him would be shattered once they did so.

— — —

Severus put a hand on Draco’s shoulder before the boy went to leave. The boy paused and stayed behind as the hallway rapidly emptied.

“Be careful in insulting Harry Potter so openly, Draco,” Severus said.

Draco scoffed, “Professor, he insulted me to my face. I could see him controlling his expression, trying not to laugh. I can’t believe he even dared to ask about it. He’ll be expelled soon by the board of governors if my father has anything to say about it…”

“Draco,” Severus said, “this is a warning. Listen or do not. But he will remember your exact words, so choose those words more carefully next time. You should be wary of a boy his age with such a tight control over his emotions. You should know that such things do not happen without a reason. And powerful people are invested in his success.”

Severus knew Harry’s manner was not an act, but Draco needed it put in a way he could understand. And it was true that Dumbledore had certainly pulled a lot of strings to influence the governors regarding Harry’s case. Whether the Headmaster was truly dedicated to helping the boy… Severus had his doubts.

The boy had still not received Dumbledore’s voice transcription quill. When Severus had asked, the headmaster had simply said that he couldn’t be seen as biased before the governors made their decisions by giving the boy such an expensive gift. But there were other ways to untraceably deliver it, and Severus wasn’t sure why Dumbledore was holding it back truly.

The headmaster had also personally asked Severus to keep the boy’s condition hidden from Minerva until after the governor’s decision. Something that set Severus ill at ease as he graded the boy’s illegible potion’s assignment last night. The boy must be spending four or more hours a day doing these assignments if he wrote at the speeds Severus had witnessed…

Draco seemed to calm his anger and reluctantly bobbed his head which drew Severus out of his thoughts. “I understand Professor. The Headmaster and the light faction will support him. I won’t let him provoke me again.” He smiled. “I’ll get him back like a Slytherin should, behind his back.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Severus subtly smirked. Subtle revenge was practically a Slytherin pastime. Potter had to learn the consequences of his words, and this would be a perfect lesson for him. And for Draco to hopefully learn to not lean on his family name so heavily.

“Good, Draco. Subtly indeed. Now, off to class. Don’t want to be late.”

Draco jolted. “Er, Yes sir, Professor. Thank you for the advice!”

Draco ran off quickly and Severus watched him go. The boy would be disappointed when the governors met and all of Dumbledore’s favors swayed their decisions Potter’s way. Dumbledore was a terrifying political force indeed when he put his mind to something.

— — —

It had been two weeks since Harry snapped Draco's wand, and the first set of grades had just come in during Friday's classes. Everyone had assumed Harry had done well as they compared how they did and swapped papers in each class. Hermione especially seemed to revel in taking other’s assignments and pointing out the various mistakes that they had made. Harry put his head down and sat quietly as the hubbub continued around him as they were released from their last class. The bundle of his assignments sat with a heavy weight in his bag.

All good grades for him. Cs and Ds in the muggle grading system, Harry couldn’t think about it properly with the wizarding lettering. But they were horrible grades to everyone else. These were supposed to be the starter easy assignments. Harry sat on a bench in the hallway and stuck his hand in the bag. His hand hit the bundle of papers inside and scrunched them into a ball in his fist. What was he going to do? His chest was getting tighter and his breathing was accelerating. How could he make it stop?

“Harry, you alright mate?”

Harry looked up and Ron was there. He sat down next to Harry.

“Fine, Ron. It’s… It’s nothing important. Nothing at all.”

“You’re not fine, mate. You look nervous. From you, that’s practically a scream for help. One of the Slytherins say something?” Ron cracked his knuckles and continued speaking, smiling to show it was a joke. At least that’s what Harry thought it meant. “Felt pretty good to hit that Malfoy prick. We could do it again if it would make you feel better?”

Harry shook his head, but a faint smile touched his lips. The tight ball in his chest loosened slightly, “I don’t think the board of Governors would like that very much. They already probably think I’m some kind of violent criminal.”

Ron shook his head. “That’s too bad. Well, c’mon tell me what’s wrong. Don’t think the three of us haven’t noticed something has been up with you ever since what happened. Hiding yourself away, avoiding talking about the homework. I just… We’re friends, mate. I owe you too, you’re making me feel like a bad friend here.”

Harry looked into the crowd and saw Hermione swoop on another person and begin to correct their work with a smug look on her face. Using her papers as a shining example. Harry had never seen this more smug side of her before. He didn’t want that directed at him. He turned back to Ron.

“Can you promise not to tell anyone about it? Especially Hermione?” Harry said.

Ron appeared taken aback, “Er, sure thing Harry. Lay it on me.”

Without another word, Harry pulled the crumpled assignments from his bag and handed them to Ron. Ron unfurled them and his eyes nearly popped when he saw the low grades at the top of them. He shuffled through them in disbelief.

“Bloody hell Harry. I thought you were doing the homework all that time. You must have really been in a rush when you did these.” Ron looked up. “What were you doing that whole time if not the homework?”

Harry turned away and cast his eyes down as his stomach sank. His voice was lowered as he stared at an interesting crack on the floor absently.

“It… I was. It did take that whole time to do those.”

Harry braced himself. Ron was about to stand up and tell the whole school what an idiot he was. Show them his papers.

“Blooooody hell, mate. You’re…”

Harry dared a look at Ron still shuffling through the papers. Hermione noticed Harry and Ron sitting on the bench. She waved and started making her way over. Harry started to immediately panic.

“Ron, Hermione's coming. Give them back.” Harry said urgently. Ron started moving, but not quickly enough. Harry snatched them from his hands and shoved them back into his bag as quickly as he could. One of the papers fell out onto the floor, and it blew away in a gust of wind. Hermione picked it up off the ground where it fell as she drew closer and inspected it. The wind had blown it to the side for a moment before gusting back, so she didn't seem to have noticed that it came from the bench. Hermoine stared at the paper in her hand for a moment, before she kept walking towards them. She reached them and plopped down to sit between Ron and Harry.

“Hey guys, look at this person’s transfiguration essay.” She said smugly as Harry froze, “It looks like they wrote it quickly right before class. I mean, it's just terrible. Some people just have to wait until the last minute, you know. This was the easiest assignment, how are they going to understand things when things actually get difficult? Just, honestly… What?”

Harry wanted to sink into the floor and Ron's mouth worked open and closed as he stared at Hermione.

“Honestly, Ron. You look like a fish. What did I do?”

Ron closed his mouth and cleared his throat. “Er, nothing Hermione. Yep, nothing.”

Harry stood up suddenly. “I have to go.”

Hermione was startled. “Huh? Why are you two acting so weird…”

“Bye,” Harry said as he quickly fled. He had to find somewhere to hide before Hermione realized that it was Harry who was the idiot who should be mocked.

He walked through the twisting hallways head down, not sure where he was even going. But he kept going anyway. He didn’t want to lose the only friends he had ever had. His chest was tight again. And it would probably remain that way from now on. Well, it was good while it lasted.

— — —

Neville walked over to the bench where Ron and Hermione were sitting. Ron was furiously verbally defending and dodging Hermione's pointed questions.

Neville spoke up as he drew close, “What- What just happened? Hermione, did you just make Harry upset? He just ran past me without even saying hello seconds after you sat next to him.”

Hermione stopped interrogating Ron, who let out a sigh of relief.

She turned and opened her mouth before Neville’s words seemed to register in her mind.

“Did I… Wait, did I? Is that what happened?” She began to look worried, “What did I do? Oh, no. It must have been something really bad. I don’t think I did anything that terrible. I was just telling them… about…”

She was looking worried as a flash of realization came over her face. She inspected the paper more closely. And the sloppy signature at the top. “Oh no… But… How? Why? Huh? But he’s… In class…”

Her face was a picture of perfect confusion as Neville leaned over to see the top of the paper. There signed at the top of the page was ‘Harry Potetr’. Neville scanned the essay below and the writing was the same quality. Short sentences with massive spelling errors. Messy scrawled handwriting. It looked like something written by a first grader.

Huh? This was Harry Potter’s transfiguration essay? The same kid that could answer nearly every question McGonagall asked in class? That Harry Potter?

Hermione's brain finally rebooted. “Well, maybe he was just in a rush? This is pretty bad, but he must have done it at the last minute like I said. He’s smart enough to know everything so he just procrastinated! That must be it.”

Ron cleared his throat. “Er, I don’t think so, Hermione. He was about to tell me about it before you came over. He wanted it a secret, but you’ve already pretty much figured it out. His assignments for every class are like that. I said that too about it just being last minute, thinking he was busy with something else. But he told me he really was doing the homework the whole time he was alone.”

Hermione was stunned. “But… How… How is this possible? I just don’t get it.”

Neville spoke up. “This is why he wanted to do the homework by himself. He didn’t want us to see this and make fun of him.”

Hermione buried her face in her hands. “Oh, I’m such an idiot. How could I do that to Harry? I feel like such a jerk.”

She shot to her feet. “I have to go find him and apologize. He must feel so horrible right now.”

Ron looked hesitant. “Er, I’m not sure if that’s the best idea, Hermione. Maybe give him some space…”

“No, I’m going to apologize to him now.” Hermione replied with resolve, “Who knows what some horrible Slytherin will say to him while he’s vulnerable!”

Ron stood. “You’re right Hermione, I didn’t think about that. It would just be like the snakes to start harassing him the moment he’s alone.”

Neville followed them as the trio set off in the direction Harry had left in. “I- I’m coming too. We’ll find him together.”

Hermione hustled forward in the lead. “Let’s go, he can’t be that far ahead.”