2 The Weight of Silence

The next few days saw Harry being treated horribly by everyone including the professors and the students from the visiting schools.

The only people who didn't treat him bad were Cedric and Hermione although she was continuing to grow more distant from him.

By the end of the week, even she abandoned him as the peer pressure became too much for her to take. Inside, another piece of Harry died at the loss of another friendship.

Ron took advantage of Harry's unpopularity and elevated himself as the de facto leader of the Gryff fourth years since he was the most vocal and the others just followed along much like the rest of the wizarding world.

Harry's torment and taunting at the hands of Ron was just too much to take and instead reacting in anger, he would quietly walk away as his fellow fourth years from all the houses laughed and jeered at him.

Harry found himself alone all the time including even during class and there were many times he caught Hermione looking at him only for her to quickly turn away.

He could see the sadness in her eyes and he thought that it was at least better than the hate filled glares that were now cast his way.

****

The loss of Hermione's friendship was the final straw for Harry and led to him isolating himself from the population of Hogwarts.

The accusations and torment by the rest of the students led to Harry avoiding everyone by taking his meals down in the kitchen.

While he still attended classes, he was usually the last one in and the first one out and had the distinction of sitting alone in the back of the class.

He thought it must have been fine with his teachers as none of them made a comment or attempted to engage him in conversation.

If anyone had really paid attention to him or actually cared for that matter, they would have seen just how haggard and worn he was due to his lack of sleep.

He started using the only items he had from his father to avoid everyone and was always the last one to enter his dorm and the first one up and out the door before the others could awaken.

Some nights, he would barely get four hours sleep as the others would wait up to try and catch him so that they could hurl more abuse at him.

****

A week after Harry had gone into isolation; a discussion was going on at the Head table that saw Albus Dumbledore quickly putting up a privacy dome.

Professor McGonagall said "This has gone on long enough Albus. We're just doing more damage at this point."

Albus replied "He needs to learn that he has to rely on his friends."

She heatedly replied "Not when you are allowing the lies to continue. I know for a fact that no one has seen him except during class. They don't even know if he is still sleeping in the dorms."

Albus sighed "It will all work out in time. Once things settle down, his friendships will be stronger than ever."

She scoffed "I remember another young man who isolated himself and we know how well that turned out."

Albus blanched "You don't think he is turning dark do you?"

She growled out "I don't know! I haven't seen him but in class and before I can catch him, he is out the door and disappears. He doesn't talk to anyone so we have no way of finding out that way either."

With a soft smile, Albus said "Not to worry my dear. I'll speak with him later today at the wand weighing ceremony. He has to show up for that."

****

For the first time in many years, Albus was beginning to second guess his actions. After being summoned to the ceremony, Harry disappeared on the way leaving the messenger to appear alone.

When questioned, Colin said "I don't know Professor, one minute he was there and the next he was gone."

The rest of the champions waited for an hour before they had to proceed with the ceremony. With almost everyone incensed at his failure to appear, they completed their ceremony and went about their way.

His failure to appear at the ceremony aggravated one reporter so much that she called for a special edition of the Daily Prophet to go out that afternoon.

****

Boy-Who-Snubbed

By: Rita Skeeter

Dear readers, I had the privilege to be called to report on the Wand weighing ceremony at Hogwarts earlier today for the Tri Wizard Tournament.

I am pleased to say that I had some nice conversations with the champions who actually bothered to show up.

Harry Potter never appeared for the ceremony much to the aggravation of the other champions and the judges.

According to my sources, this is just another incident in a long stream of them that shows Mr. Potter as anything but the mild mannered young man we were all lead to believe he was.

After interviewing several students, I found out that the fourth champion, Harry Potter, has allowed the tournament to go to his head and no longer associates with his fellow students.

Former best friend to the Boy-Who-Lived, Ron Weatherby, stated "He's a foul git and I don't know why I ever put up with his ego for the last few years.

He constantly struts around and throws his fame and his wealth around for all to see. I know I wouldn't act like that if I were in his shoes."

If his best friend could say that about him, it must be true. I promise to try and get to the bottom of the story.

Something doesn't seem right here and it makes me wonder if all the fame and adulation have finally taken their toll and led Mr. Potter on a path of darkness.

I call upon the Ministry to try and step in and save our young hero before things get any worse.

****

For the last week, Harry had been writing Sirius with each letter getting more desperate. After getting no response whatsoever, he realized that his Godfather had abandoned him as well.

He looked back on his time at Privet Dr and realized that his earlier life had uniquely prepared him for this.

Life at the Dursleys was at the least a lonely existence. As he thought about it, he realized that everyone was waiting for him to crawl back to them begging forgiveness.

It just set his resolve even more since he knew that he was in the right. It was also when he realized that he found it relaxing not to have demands made on him or his time.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

As he thought about it, he started making his plans to just get through school and then he could go away and never have to deal with the wizarding world again.

He kept his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's map on him at all times as a method of escape and survival.

His reasoning was that if he had it, then Ron or Hermione couldn't use it to track him down. During those first few weeks of isolation, if he wanted someone to talk to, he called for Dobby.

The conversations varied greatly but always had a recurring theme on Dobby's end.

Harry finally gave in and bonded Dobby to him and he quickly realized the benefits of doing it as he finally had someone around him who was unwavering in their loyalty to him.

Dobby also proved to be an incredible spy and kept Harry out of the clutches of those that wanted to control him.

The bond they formed went far beyond that of a normal wizard/house elf bond. With both of them wanting so much more than life had dealt them up to this point, the bond turned more into one of family and connected them on an even deeper level.

During the bonding, as they each took a part of the other inside themselves, Dobby could feel the taint on Harry's soul and used the love he had for the wizard to slowly remove it as Harry slept.

The struggle to remove it about wiped Dobby out but once it was gone, he could feel Harry's power increasing and flowing stronger than it ever had.

The power increase in Harry bled over to Dobby and pointed out something else to him. The whiskered old fool had bound Harry's magic many years ago so once again, Dobby started the process of fixing his wizard.

The bindings were strong and once again Dobby worked hard while Harry slept. In the end, Harry had a power increase but it wasn't some drastic thing.

When he and Dobby discussed it, Dobby told him that while he would be able to cast stronger spells, the real benefit would show in his reserves.