AN: Hi guys! Here's the newest chapter of HEAUL! I wrote this in a day and it's currently 2am whilst I'm typing this author's note. This was going to be part of a much longer chapter, but I decided that the trio needed to have their own chapter and everyone deserves to be happy for a little bit. I hope you guys like this chapter, so please leave me reviews about what you think. I will start work on the next chapter when it's daylight and I've had some sleep. Happy 35th Birthday Harry Potter! Happy Birthday J.K. Rowling!

Also, on a side note, I know this chapter is really short (2100-ish words) but that's because there is a longer chapter about to be written and the fact that this is one of the ending chapters. There ought to be only 2-3 chapters to go, depending if I write the epilogue or not. Also depending on how long the chapters get. Anywho! I hope you al love this chapter and leave me heaps of reviews on it!

xoxox Rav3n Owl

The day the students came back after holidays was supposed to be a day – well, an evening – of happiness. Friends were supposed to reunite and tell each other about their time away. They weren't supposed to be whispering about the Daily Prophet articles that were being published, or staring at Harry like he was the next Dark Lord.

The whispers went around the Great Hall, muttered "traitor" or "poof" or "teacher's pet", being the politest words. "Evil", "Unforgivable", "Imperio", "Dark Lord in training" were some of the worst.

Harry was sitting beside Hermione and Ron – Ron who had been obsessed with Lavender all year – listening to the other students dissect his love life and judge him because of who he loved. It wasn't that unusual, after all this was Hogwarts, but to hear his peers commenting on the fact that he was "going to be the next You-Know-Who" all because Severus and he were together … Harry felt trapped.

Even the Gryffindor's were getting in on it. Seamus and Dean were the most vocal, and Ginny was joining in. They kept talking about Severus being a Death Eater and using the Unforgivable's on Harry. Until Ginny reminded them that he was the Potion's Master and then they started to discuss what potions he could have used.

At that point, Ron had cast the muffliato charm and Harry, Hermione and Ron could no longer hear the conversations. They could still see and feel the stares however.

"Mate," Ron said, breaking the silence. "You know that I think this is a load of bull, right? I'll talk to Ginny, get her to stop saying all of this. She's just upset because you rejected her ..."

Ron trailed off when Harry turned to look at him.

"She's upset? She's not the one with her love life printed all over the Prophet! I know she's your sister Ron, but she has no right to talk about the man I love like she is. No one has that right." Harry said furiously. "I don't know how the Daily Prophet got those photo's but that was a private moment between Sev and I. And now the whole bloody nation knows. Merlin, the things people are saying about him. None of it is true. I seduced him. I'm the one that … He's not to blame. For any of this. I am."

Hermione looked stricken as Harry slumped his shoulders in defeat. Ron was looking at them both with a flabbergasted expression. Hermione was opening her mouth, but Ron beat her to saying something.

"Blimey mate! You're not to blame. It's those -" Hermione's admonished "Ronald!" drowned out what he said "- who are to blame." Ron finished. He cautiously put a hand on Harry's back. "If you love him, slimy git that he is, then I hope things work out. Not that I know – or want to know – what you see in him."

Harry looked at Ron and smiled faintly. "Well, he has a really, really big -" This time it was Hermione and Ron crying out his name "-Library! I was going to say library! Merlin, you two have dirty minds."

At this, the trio laughed together. It was almost as if the past year hadn't happened.

"Harry I'm so sorry. I don't know who would take those photo's. Dray is looking into it. He says to tell you that he's sorry, but a round or two of rough shagging ought to cheer you both up." Hermione said.

Harry laughed at his friend and glanced at Ron who was making retching noises. "Shut up, Ron. I didn't gag when you were snogging Lavender." He grinned. "'Mione, if you see Dray before I do tell him we've already taken his advice." The gagging started up again. "And tell him I say thanks."

Hermione grinned at Harry and Ron. You could see that she was happy to have their original trio back, even if the circumstances weren't happy. At least they were happy.

Harry turned to face Ron, dislodging his hand in the process. It had been months since he'd been this close to him. Ron was starting to get a beard. It looked weird on him somehow, making him seem older than he was. Harry also didn't miss the fact that there were no love bites on Ron's neck.

"Mate, what happened between you and Lavender?" Harry asked.

Ron opened his mouth to reply, but Hermione hit Harry on the shoulder.

"Dumbledore is about to make a speech." She said by way of apologising.

Ron and Harry turned to face the teacher's table and Ron let the muffliato charm go.

Dumbledore was standing, hitting his goblet with a knife to silence the students. Harry tried to catch Severus' eye and breathed a sigh of relief when Severus twitched the muscles in his face into a quick smirk. Things were still okay between them.

"Welcome students, to another term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! I trust you all had a good holiday at home. Classes resume as normal tomorrow morning and your timetables will be found sitting on your beds when you get back to your dormitories." Dumbledore smiled at each table, his eyes flicking over every student. "As you are all aware, the Daily Prophet has printed articles about one of our students. This is not an uncommon occurrence, however I must ask you all to have an open mind. Professor Snape and Mr. Potter are still your teacher and peer respectively. I ask each of you to treat them with the same respect as you always have."

At this, Harry cringed and fought the urge to sink lower in his seat, wishing Hogwarts would open a pit beneath his feet and swallow him whole.

"I will be stopping owls from coming into the castle for a short while as there have been some ... disturbing content in the mail." Dumbledore went on, seemingly oblivious to the outraged cries from the students. "You will all still receive your mail everyday after dinner in your common rooms. This precaution is only for a short while, and soon things will be back to normal!" Dumbledore clapped his hands as his eyes started twinkling wildly. "And now on to the feast!"

With those words, all the tables in the Great Hall were filled with delicious food that the House-Elves had spent the past day preparing.

Ron started to pile food on his plate as fast as he could whilst Harry and Hermione watched on in amazement. Ron still hadn't answered Harry's question, but Harry wasn't going to push him. It wasn't the time to do so and it felt like the whole hall was full of people who resented him because of Dumbledore's speech.

Harry could hear students complaining about the mail ban and more than once people referred to the Prophet article's. He could barely eat, but he didn't want a lecture from Hermione or Severus about him neglecting his health so he grabbed some potatoes and a couple of sausages and started to eat.

Repeatedly he would look up from his meal to see people staring at him. Most looked away when he caught them, but some kept staring. Those that weren't staring at him were staring at Severus. All Harry wanted to do was to make the stupid articles go away and go back to Severus' rooms. Severus had told him that morning that he had to spend at least one night in the tower so people could see that he wasn't afraid of them, nor ashamed and that he wasn't under some sort of potion or spell.

When the first article had come out just after New Year's, Severus hadn't let Harry read it. There wasn't anything left of it after Severus' wandless magic had incinerated it. Harry had managed to catch a glimpse of a couple of pictures – there were about five of them in all – and he had grown shaky and pale. The headline didn't help either being "Boy – Who – Lived: Joining The Dark Side?". Severus was fuming. When Severus had calmed down, he had told Harry that the article changed nothing between them and that they would deal with the shit-storm together. It had taken all day for Harry to stop feeling violated and to actually laugh at some of the ridiculous plans Severus was coming up with to get revenge. In the end they had both talked to Dumbledore and he told them that his office had been full of howlers, antidotes, and Bubotuber pus amongst other things that he refused to name. Dumbledore had handed Harry a stack of letters from his friends and told them that he would fix it.

When Harry and Severus got back to their rooms, Harry had opened the letters and cried whilst Severus read them. His friends were happy that he was in love and they would stand by him no matter what. Even Ron had written to him. Harry was so relieved, he had given Severus a blow job in the living room. They had then gone to bed and missed dinner entirely.

Just thinking about that put a smile on Harry's face and he finished eating just in time. The dishes cleared themselves of food and Dumbledore bade them all good night. Ron and Hermione flanked Harry on their way to Gryffindor Tower and a permanent muffliato charm was cast by Hermione as they walked.

"So. We broke up." Ron said when they could talk freely.

"Want to talk about it, mate?" Harry asked.

"Nothing to talk about. She broke up with me. Something to do with me not paying her attention. Dunno, I wasn't really listening. Bill and Charlie were home so I was distracted." Ron said sheepishly, his ears beginning to turn the colour of his hair.

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances and then started laughing. Soon Ron was joining in too.

"Glad to have you back Ron." Hermione said. "Even if you still have the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"What she said." Harry added.

"Sorry I was a complete ass." Ron muttered. "So what did you do over break 'Mione?"

Hermione blushed and looked down. They were still climbing stairs to get to the tower. "Dray met my parents." She said to the floor.

Ron opened his mouth, then closed it again. He did this several times before he managed to form any words.

"You and Mal-Draco are serious then?" He asked. "I thought he was with Harry!"

"It's a long story." Harry and Hermione replied at the same time.

Ron still looked puzzled but he was smiling. Both Harry and Hermione were shocked that he had used the blond's name and that he wasn't storming off in a huff.

"How was it?" Harry asked.

"They made him sleep on the couch the whole time." She replied, blushing and giggling. "I'm pretty sure dad gave him The Talk as well."

Harry began to laugh, which caused Hermione and Ron to laugh as well.

"He was obsessed with the telly. Made dad show him every station. He even helped mum cook Christmas dinner." Hermione said.

Ron looked on in amusement and he kept glancing at Harry and Hermione, a smile on his face. Harry bumped shoulders with them both and they all started laughing again. It felt good to have his friends back. Even with everything that was going on outside of their bubble, they were still able to laugh and smile and joke around.

When they reached the common room they snagged chairs closest to the fire and started to warm up, sitting in a comfortable silence. The trio was aware of the eyes upon them but for now, they ignored them.

"So, tell me what happened with you and Snape." Ron said.

Harry smiled and began to tell him about Draco and the plan, with Hermione adding in details that she knew about. Harry left out most of the graphic details, but he couldn't resist teasing his friends.

There were plenty of laughs and chucked cushions but the three of them were happy. They forgot about the world outside of them and every one else. It wasn't until Hermione cast a tempus charm that they realized it was almost two in the morning and they were the only ones still in the common room.

The three of them hugged and said good night, smiles still on their faces as they parted ways to go to bed.