A lot had happened to Harry even before he managed to arrive at Hogwarts. First, a strange house-elf, then a flying car, the Weasley house, and the enchanted platform. Now, Potter was sitting on the windowsill in a locked girls' bathroom, gazing at the beautiful night sky. He was incredibly happy to be back at the school of witchcraft and wizardry, far away from the Dursleys and their beatings."I wish I could fly right now," the boy sighed. The sky was clear, and the moon shone as brightly as the sun."Yeah, the weather is just right for a night flight," Ron commented. He stood by the window, rummaging through his bag for an ointment for wounds and scars."I don't understand why you like flying so much, especially at night," Hermione sat on the windowsill, leaning against the frame, staring into the night's emptiness."You wouldn't understand, you have to feel it.""Exactly, to feel that boundless freedom of flight, the adrenaline when performing some dangerous stunt. When I'm on a broom, it's like I enter another world, a world without limits, a world where I'm as free as a bird.""Nonsense," the girl huffed irritably. "You'd be better off studying as passionately as you talk about brooms.""That's not true," Ron started to argue, but Harry decided to prevent further bickering."Let's focus on what we came here for?" he suggested, and his friends eagerly agreed."Let me check your arm first, and Ron can take care of your back?" Potter nodded and carefully turned his back to Weasley and Granger, starting to unbutton his shirt. When the shirt was finally tossed aside, two shocked gasps were heard."For what?" was all Hermione could ask. The wounds were truly frightening, and the scars beneath them were even worse. Though thanks to Ron and Hermione's efforts, most of them were nearly invisible."A farewell gift," Potter muttered and told them everything that had happened to him over the summer, including the strange house-elf named Dobby."This is damn suspicious," Ron sighed, carefully treating the boy's wounds with a potion made from various healing herbs."Give me your hand," Granger requested. When Harry obeyed, she carefully waved her wand over the boy's arm, and the concealing spell shattered, revealing bandages. Apparently, Ron had cast the spell—it was quite weak, but fortunately, his parents were too preoccupied to notice. After the girl removed the wrappings, she saw several bruises, some small, some larger, and a severe bruise around the wrist, as if someone had grabbed him tightly."You seem a little better now," Ron commented when he noticed that some bruises had faded since the last time he treated them with a cooling potion back at the Burrow."Yeah, the bruises are almost gone, and my arm doesn't hurt as much anymore," Potter admitted, occasionally groaning softly as Hermione changed the bandages while Ron continued tending to the severe injuries on his back. Finally, the girl finished and sat on the edge of the windowsill. During the treatment, she and Ron had started arguing again, and as always, Harry had to calm them both down. He never liked it when his two best friends fought, especially when he was the reason for it."I just fear that something might happen to you if you go back to that house," tears welled up in Granger's eyes, so Potter tried to comfort his friend. He sat beside her on the windowsill and took her hand."Everything will be fine, I promise. Nothing will happen to me," he whispered in her ear, gently stroking her hand. Ron sat on her other side and also tried to console her.Morning was approaching, so the three Gryffindors decided to return to their tower as soon as possible, but before that, they agreed to go to the Forbidden Forest the next day to find some herbs for a potion. They had no idea they were being watched as they returned to their common room, though they did feel the presence of someone else.***Classes went by rather quickly, though the trio looked quite tired after their late-night outing. During this time, Hermione managed to gather some of the potion ingredients. On their way to the last lesson of the day, they ran into Percy."You don't look too great," he noted, carefully examining his brother and his friends' faces, pushing them into a secluded corner of the corridor so no one could overhear."We were treating Harry's wounds last night," the younger Weasley whispered. The only people at Hogwarts who knew about Harry's problems at home, aside from Ron and Hermione, were Percy, Fred, and George... and Snape, though Harry wasn't aware of that. Ron's brothers had only recently learned Potter's secret at the Burrow when they accidentally saw their younger brother providing medical care to the Boy Who Lived. It had taken a lot of effort to convince them not to tell anyone. However, the Weasley twins had given an ultimatum: either Harry would tell an adult about his situation before the end of the school year, or they would do it for him."And tonight we're going to the Forbidden Forest," Harry whispered. "We've run out of the necessary herbs for the potion." Percy sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face."You're not going anywhere tonight," the older Weasley shook his head. Before the Golden Trio could protest, he continued, "I'll go instead. It's much less dangerous for me than for you three.""Are you sure? We can go ourselves, or I can go alone if you're worried about Ron," Harry didn't want to burden anyone with something so trivial."I'm worried about all three of you. Besides, as a prefect, I can't allow second-years to wander into the Forbidden Forest alone. So I'm your best option. Meet me after curfew in the girls' bathroom on the second floor. I'll bring all the necessary herbs.""But how will you get out of Hogwarts unnoticed?" Hermione asked. She trusted Percy and knew he would be relatively safe in the forest since he knew far more spells than Harry and Ron, but she wanted to make sure he'd be okay."Did you really think only the twins knew Hogwarts' secret passageways?" the older Weasley asked sarcastically before disappearing around the corner, hurrying to his lesson. The three shrugged and hurried to their own class.***Percy made his way through the bushes toward the Forbidden Forest. In truth, it was easier for a prefect to slip out of the school after curfew than for an ordinary student, especially if they knew the secret passages scattered throughout the castle. The Forbidden Forest was eerily quiet at night, though many Gryffindors and Slytherins loved sneaking in there in secret. It was one of the few things those rival houses had in common. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would never venture into the forest, especially at night. Some were scared, others found it uninteresting, and the rest were smart enough to know the dangers lurking within. But something about the forest's forbidden nature attracted Gryffindors and Slytherins alike. Percy would be lying if he said he had never ventured into the forest at night. In fact, almost every student from those two houses had done so at least once. The forest had its own unique, albeit eerie, charm.Now, however, the Forbidden Forest frightened Percy. He knew he shouldn't go too far in, or he might get into trouble. Luckily, most of the herbs he needed grew near the edge. No one knew why, but everyone accepted that the forest had its own special magic. Of course, students never went too deep inside—every year, the Gryffindor and Slytherin prefects would mark certain trees to indicate the safe boundary.Percy had just reached the edge of the forest and was about to go further when he felt a firm grip on the collar of his robe."Going somewhere, Mr. Weasley?" a cold, menacing whisper sounded right next to his ear. Percy's insides turned to ice—he had run into the one teacher he least wanted to meet.Turning around, he found himself face to face with the terrifying Potions Master, Professor Snape. The older Weasley tried to explain, but before he could utter a word, he was roughly dragged toward the castle. And he was silently praying to Merlin that Severus Snape wouldn't deduct points from Gryffindor because of him.