Harry took a seat at an empty desk at the back of the class and sat in silence. He was surprised and somewhat annoyed when Ron decided to sit next to him.

"That's Professor Snape," he whispered to Harry, pointing subtly towards the teacher behind the desk. "He's one of the worst teachers here. If he sets his sights on you, he'll make your life miserable."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't seem like that when Harry saw him yesterday. The rest of the class filed in quickly and took their seats.

"Today, we're going to look over the periodic table," Snape said, opening up a PowerPoint on the large screen. A dark-haired boy raised a hand.

"What is it, Longbottom?" Snape seethed.

The bit flinched slightly at the anger in his tone. "I- I wanted to ask, why are we going over it again?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "For revision, you incompetent fool. And because we have a new student in the class who needs to catch up."

Everyone looked back towards Harry, and he felt himself going red under their intense gazes.

"Eyes at the front, everyone," Snape said sharply. The class complied, and Harry sent a grateful look towards his new teacher. He could've sworn he saw a hint of a smile from Snape.

Everyone took out their exercise books and began scribbling down notes from the board. Harry raised a hand sheepishly.

"What?" Snape asked, eyes narrowing.

"I don't have a book," Harry said, looking down at the space on the desk in front of him. Snape went to his desk and took one out before walking over to Harry and handing it to him.

"Ask Weasel over here if you have trouble understanding," Snape said, nodding towards Ron in distaste. Ron glared at him but didn't say anything.

Once Snape had walked away, Harry turned to Ron in confusion. "Why did he call you Weasel?"

Ron sighed. "My last name is Weasley. He thinks he's a comedian."

"How come he wasn't rude to me?" Harry asked, confusion entering his face. Ron shrugged.

"Who knows. Anyways, if you get stuck, don't ask me," Ron said. "Because I don't know shit."

Harry chuckled a little at that. "It's fine. I think I'll be okay."

The class worked in silence, and Harry admired Snape for keeping a class of troubled teens under control with seemingly zero effort.

"Harry," Ron nudged him while whispering his name. "Would you like to sit with my friends at lunch? I can't imagine you've got any, being new and all."

Harry nodded, and Ron grinned. "Great."

The brunet sighed and went back to his work. It's like what Ron said. He had no friends, and he didn't want to get targeted because he was all alone.

"What lesson do you have next?" Ron asked. Harry took his timetable out and looked at it.

"Uh, Reform and Growth," he replied. Harry raised an eyebrow; he had never heard of that class before. Ron gave him an odd look.

"Good luck, mate. That class sucks," he said.

"Why? What do you have to do?" Harry asked.

Ron looked troubled but told him anyway. "At the beginning of the lesson, they'll give you a slip of paper to write down your reason for coming here and put them in a box. Then they take one out each lesson and read it out before going on to explain why that thing was so wrong and why that person needs to change."

Harry's eyes widen. "So, it's telling us we're here for a reason?"

Ron laughed without amusement. "The reason we are all here is that our parents can't be bothered with us or can't handle us. Society sees us as dangerous, mate. It's like a mental asylum in disguise."

The Dursleys had sent Harry here just because he was gay?

Frowning, Harry carried on with his work, trying not to think about his next lesson.

When the time finally came to go to Reform and Growth, Harry was more nervous than ever. Ron kindly accompanied him to the room as he was still getting accustomed to the ins and outs of Hogwarts. He entered the room and sat at the back of the class once again.

The teacher was almost toad-like, with short brown hair and a bright pink bow on her head. She was dressed from head to toe in pink and looked extremely out of place in the yellow-walled classroom.

"Hello, everyone!" she said brightly. Harry thought that maybe she might not be so bad after all. Her smile seemed genuine.

The rest of the class did not think so, however, and they muttered a half-hearted reply. The lady's smile did not waver as she repeated her words. "Hello, everyone!"

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," they chanted gloomily. Her smile turned sickly and grew larger, threatening to rip her face apart.

"We have a new student today!" she said happily. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Everyone looked back towards Harry for the second time that day, and he looked apologetically at her. "I'm sorry, but I don't-"

"I said," her voice turning dangerously sweet. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Harry paled and swallowed showily. "I, uh, I'm Harry."

Umbridge smiled and nodded. "Good, Harry. I'm going to give you a slip of paper now, and you're going to write down your reason for being sent to this school if you don't mind. It may seem invasive, but I promise it's for the best."

She walked towards him with a smile, and Harry saw his classmates gave him pitying looks. Umbridge set the paper down in front of him and just stood there.

"Well?" she asked, a hint of impatience in her voice. "We're waiting, Harry."

He quickly jotted down I'm gay onto the paper and watched as she walked back to the front of the class with it and dropped it into a bowl, but not before reading it. She then fished around for another paper from inside it. She looked at Harry and started to explain.

"Now, Harry, what we do at the beginning of each lesson is we look at someone's reason, and we break it down and look at why their parents may have been upset because of it and why they need to change. Here in reform class, we look at different ways to grow and mature, to make ourselves and our families happy."

Harry couldn't do anything but nod. How sick! What even was this place? Was this shit even legal?

She read out from the slip she had in her hands. "My parents sent me here because I turned atheist recently, and they're very strict Christians."

There was dead silence, and from the corner of his eye, he saw a girl tremble. Was she the one who wore that?

"Now, what is an atheist, class?" Umbridge asked. No one answered. She laughed a little.

"Someone must know! How about you, Harry? Would you like to guess?" she looked at him expectantly, and he squirmed.

"I, uh, I don't know," he said dumbly. "Someone who doesn't believe in God?"

Umbridge nodded solemnly. "It sounds ridiculous and unbelievable, I know. But some people think religion is optional. But it's not."

Some of the kids glared at her, while others struggled to refrain themselves from jumping out of their seats. Umbridge carried on.

"Atheism is stupid, really," she laughed. "Whoever wrote this was probably not thinking straight. Sinning calls and beckons young minds like yours, and it is harder for you to resist as you are young and impressionable!"

"You're bullshit!" called out a boy with a heavy Irish accent. Umbridge closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before turning to him.

"We do not speak out of turn, Seamus. Nor do we curse during classes."

Harry felt anger boiling up inside him. His hand shot up before he could stop himself, and Umbridge turned to him with a smile. "Yes?"

"I agree with Seamus. That's completely disgusting." The words were out of his mouth before he could take them back, and he saw Umbridge's nostrils flare. He saw the boy named Seamus give him a thumbs up.

"No, Harry," Umbridge said calmly. "It's the truth."

"How would you know? What proof is there?" Harry demanded. He wanted to shut up, but he couldn't stop himself.

Umbridge looked as if she had had enough. "Harry! Enough!" she yelled. Harry glared at her stubbornly. She regained her composure and turned to both Seamus and Harry.

"Both of you have detention now for disrupting class unnecessarily," she said haughtily.

She continued the lesson, and Harry sat there deep in thought, not listening to a word she said.

~~~
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