Snape glanced at Potter. "Those questions, why did you ask me all of them?"
"I want you to do something first. Cast Legilimens on me."
He knew he looked surprised; the lessons weren't doing a thing. He cast Legilimens and was met with a stone wall. He tried it again and met with a stone wall. "How?" The boy usually left in pain from the lessons.
"I have always been able to let you see what you wanted to see. I couldn't let dear old Dumbledore know I knew the truth. That I have known the truth since about Yule of my first year, the troll, actually was what gave me the idea to search for the truth. Granger and Weasley really have no shields and I saw part of the truth with them and it went from there."
"I believe you are going to have to start at the beginning." Snape was still trying to recover from the fact that Potter kept him out. Only the Dark Lord and Dumbledore had that ability.
He saw Potter pull something out of his pockets, it looked like a trunk. Potter placed it on the floor. He unshrunk it, opened it with a parseltongue password. He wondered briefly why the snake language sounded so erotic on Potter versus the Dark Lord. He watched Potter search for something. He got handed a bunch of parchment with the Gringotts seal on them, a few journals of some type and parchment that looked like it was from the Ministry. "I always carry it with me; I don't trust Ron not to say something to Dumbledore." Potter handed him the stack of stuff. "Start the Gringotts stuff first. It will answer those questions I asked you." Potter sat down, returning to the book.
"The first parchment was about over six feet in length and gave a full history of Potter's medical condition which was making him sick as he read it. The boy was abused almost as soon as he was placed with his muggle relatives. He noticed the damage to the nerves and tendons in his arms, no wonder the boy couldn't brew. "Why didn't you get it fixed?"
"How? The goblins couldn't do it without consent. Guess who has to give it?" That is from my first year, I haven't been back to their healers since, so just add the last few years on there as I am sure you noticed the missing Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears from the list, from my second year. That was the monster that I killed."
"You killed a Basilisk?" Snape was surprised.
"Guess the old goat didn't let that out. Yes, my second year I saved Ginny Weasley from it, down in the Chamber of Secrets."Potter paused "felt bad about killing it too."
"Those rumors were true?" He was shocked, but he did notice Potter spat the Weasley name out.
"Yes, the thing is still down there, been waiting to harvest it and sell the parts but don't want Dumbledore to get any ideas on taking that money."
"Taking money?" He was confused.
"Read my account statements."
He began to go through all the statements and noticed a number of withdrawals and transfers to Dumbledore, Molly, Ron and Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger. "This is illegal; you can get all the money back."
"I can't until I am out of that school. How do you think he would take it if suddenly all the money was returned to me. He would ask what happened. Besides I have been working with my account manager, I have several vaults that he doesn't know about and I have been building the gold in them and slowly transferring money out of the ones he does know about. He can't steal what he doesn't know about. Of course, the goblins are always willing to work with you for a price."
Snape was getting surprised. "Why can't they heal you for a price?" He was wondering what Potter would say.
"Madam Pomfrey would notice something was different and would tell Dumbledore, it wouldn't take him long to figure that I was healed by someone else. Who else can do healing? He would find out in less than a day."
He had to agree. Dumbledore would find out. He was impressed. Potter had thought it through and he had done that in his first year.
"Madam Pomfrey has been stopped from helping me numerous times. He wanted me in that condition."
Snape continued reading the parchments when he saw the inheritance test. "Does he know about this?" Holding up the test.
"Nope, that is why I was able to hide so many vaults. He only knows about the Potter ones."
"I think you are going to have to start with your first year. What you said about your second year makes me wonder what I am missing from the others."
"I don't think there is much, except I didn't want to go for the stone. I was put under a compulsion spell, which frankly pissed me off. He had done it with the troll too, made me follow Ron to the stupid thing. I had no desire to go and find it. I knew Granger was missing and was perfectly happy with telling someone."
Snape closed his eyes, remembering Potter's adventures. "So most of that stuff was you under some kind of compulsion spell?"
"Most yes, some I did just because I wanted to avoid that, and keep the old fool off of my back. Last year, since it was the Tournament, and this year so far has been relatively free of compulsion spells. Didn't you ever wonder why my attitude was different from one day to the next?
Snape had honestly wondered about that but put it down to the boy being arrogant. "I did, but I brushed it off with excuses." He wasn't going to start lying to the boy, it would make no sense. He had never lied to him, knowingly.
Potter nodded. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me. One of the reasons why I got into your potions class is because I am rather good at them, even if I couldn't do them exactly as you wanted, you did add errors on some of them. I noticed it, you made it slightly different from the books, as way to check to see if people would just rely on your word or even learn their lesson about just reading the board. Potions is a lot like cooking, you can fix things if you know what to use." He paused "however, it seems my body is almost at peak form. I have grown almost a foot and feel like I will grow more, my body will be developing more. Something is telling me that, some memories I really have no idea where they came from. My body is free of pain for the first time that I can actually remember."
"You have been in pain all these years?" Snape found himself surprised. The boy certainly never acted like he was in pain all the time, but he thought that did explain his lack of energy at times, how he seemed sluggish, even at times indifferent to what was going on around him. He had thought it was arrogance but if he was in a lot of pain, Potter wouldn't have wanted to move, and he knew when he was in pain he withdraw into himself as a way to cope.
"Yes the damage done made it painful to even write at times. Though Umbridge has made that harder this year." He paused "did you know she is using a blood quill? Dumbledore does. I went to McGonagall to tell her, and I got told to "keep my head down" instead of her listening to me. That didn't surprise me, no one listened to me at any school. I realized no matter what I said Dumbledore would send me back to my relatives, McGonagall didn't want to hear me and well you know about our Defense Professors. Black and Lupin are too far gone into Dumbledore to listen to a word I say. That just leaves you Professor. What are you going to do? Ignore what I showed you? Do you believe me?"
He glanced down at the parchment; he wasn't really ready to answer that right now. "Whose journals are these?"
"Mine, they tell what happened from when I first returned to the wizarding world. You might not want to read it before bed, might give you nightmares. I know I have them. You didn't answer my question."
"I believe you, I am just unsure of what to do exactly, beyond taking you back to the bank. After your 4th year, you were declared an adult."
"Well isn't that surprising. I am guessing Dumbledore didn't want me to know that. I really need to go to the bank."
"I don't know. He never said a word about it. I just know because after you got entered I was wondering why people were insisting you had to stay in it. You see, because you were under age, you needed your magical guardian's authorization to stay in it. You didn't have authorization and I didn't know Albus was your magical guardian or I would have said something. He led us to believe your relatives spoiled you. The whole wizarding world believes that actually." Snape knew he shouldn't have believed rumors, but he did in this case. "I was really looking for a way to get you out. I thought it was too dangerous. After I thought about your reaction, something told me you didn't put your name in that goblet. You were to pale and almost in shock when your name was called."
Potter looked at him for a few minutes "I didn't. I asked for the rules, never got them. I looked for them in the library but the book disappeared before I could find it, according to Mrs. Pince. I knew he was my magical guardian. I had wondered why people seemed so surprised by my appearance. If he told people I was well taken care of and instead they saw me, I am sure some wondered if I was really Harry Potter. Where did you get the rules from?"
"I got a copy of them from Lord Malfoy. I had wondered what happened to the library's copy myself."
"There is one more thing you should know." Potter went back to his trunk and dug around and pulled out two pieces of parchment. "You have been lied to; well the whole wizarding world has actually."
The first piece of paper was Potter's birth certificate.
Name: Harrison James Riddle Potter
Father: Tom Marvolo Riddle (Voldemort)
Mother: Marion Catherine Riddle nee Rosely
Blood adoption: James Potter
Blood adoption: Lilian Potter nee Evans
Blood adoption: Sirius Black
"He didn't go after me to kill me, he was trying to come and get me. Dumbledore and he fought after he asked Lily to step aside. I don't know who actually fired the curse at her or I since they were trying to kill each other, but it was never about that prophesy you heard. Read the other one."
Snape glanced down, another birth certificate.
Lilian Amber Black Evans
Father: Phineas Orion Blackbr
Mother: Sarah Patrice Black nee Yaxley
Adopted Father: Henry Evans
Adopted Mother: Rose Ann Evans nee Yaxley
"I am a pure-blood, just like my mother was. When I read my, sorry, Lily and James' Will, I was never to go the Dursleys in either Will. They listed several people to get custody of me, you were one of them." He saw Potter glance at him "James stated who the secret keep was; he named Peter as a traitor."
Snape looked at Potter. "That is why you were so sure during your third year, you already knew the information."
"Yes."
"I want you to answer me truthful about this, is the "golden-boy" an image."
"Yes, a very well-constructed one. You have no idea how hard it was to play stupid, especially to that know-it-all. I am done with it, however. No more "golden-boy". I am going to be me, the one that was supposed to go into Slytherin. I wanted nothing to do with Weasley and Granger. Here is a piece of interesting information for you; Granger is allowed to cast spells during the summer that is why she is so far ahead. When she mentioned it on the train the first time we met, I wondered about it. During third year she was given a time turner to give her access to all the classes Hogwarts had to offer. Yes, she took every single class for our year."
He heard the floo alarm go off. "That will be Dumbledore."
"I know." Snape wondered what Dumbledore wanted. They got up and went to the office. Potter, he noticed, stayed out of sight. "Yes, Albus?"
"Ah, Severus, my boy, I was wondering what happened that made you go to your manor. You know the danger Harry is in, he shouldn't be outside of Hogwarts or his relatives' wards."
"I needed to get Mr. Potter to calm down, and he wasn't doing it at Hogwarts. My wards are strong enough and the Dark Lord has no idea of this manor, only you and now, Mr. Potter know of its existence."
"Where is Harry now? Have you talked to him? Is everything alright? There haven't been any more issues that have arisen?" Dumbledore was portraying his grandfather image.
He noticed Potter shaking his head no. "I got him to sleep; I am waiting for him to awaken so that we can talk. I am researching what type of living vampire he is."
"Very good Severus, do keep me informed." Dumbledore disappeared. Snape cut the connection.
"He was lying." At Snape's questioning look, Potter glanced at the fireplace. "There are no wards at my "relatives" house. There never were. Did you notice he never once asked how either of us were?"
"I figured that part out. I also noticed that. I wonder why he wanted you there."
"Really?" Potter looked worried for Snape's intelligence. Potter let out a breath. "He needs to control me, control this war he wants to happen. How else do you think he is going to keep his reputation up? People were forgetting him so the first war started. People were forgetting him again, until he brought me back and began to try and control me. People see him as a way of getting to me. This upcoming war he has planned is just another way for him to keep control. If you think he planned on me surviving, I can show you the marriage contract he thinks will work on binding me and Ginny Weasley. It makes reference to my death or being put in Azkaban several times, more than a normal marriage contract would. Not to mention Ginny and Molly's thoughts on the whole "make sure he dies" idea."
Snape landed hard in his chair. He thought about Dumbledore's reputation. Every time it started to falter, Dumbledore had done something to keep his name on everyone's lips.
"Yes, I know it's a lot to process, but we don't have much time unless you floo Lucius and we escape to my father." Potter paused for a moment. "That is what we need to do. I can't go back there, Umbridge will know and Dumbledore will want to tell the Order this is my secret power to kill my father, and with their oaths and some of them have loyalty potions in them, they will buy it."
"How do you know Lucius?"
"Please, that whole resurrection was a scam. Peter did kill Cedric, but the idiot wasn't supposed to. Why do you think you haven't been called at all? Because he knows you believe in Dumbledore."
That had Snape's attention, he had wondered why he hadn't been called or why there was no Death Eater activity. "Is he sane?"
"Yes, finally. Took me binding him in bed for a week at the beginning of summer, had to sneak away and leave a golem at my relatives. Actually I spent most of the summer at Slytherin Castle. I spent a lot of time working on getting him to see what needs to be done. I can't tell you what we did to make him sane, which is up to him." Potter tilted his head again. "I do believe you are back on our side now. I told him the truth would work on you, the big idiot was afraid you might spill the beans to Dumbledore."
At those words, Snape again felt his system be slightly shocked, the boy could see magic and a person's intent he realized. "How long have you been able to see magic? Someone's intentions?"
"Always. I had to learn to tone it down at Hogwarts, too many people wanting things from me. Too many, always wanting something from me. Use the "golden boy" as if I didn't exist. Draco and some of your snakes aren't good at hiding it even when I had it toned down. Why do you think it was mostly Ron who fought with Draco? Yes, I know I did some of it, bloody had to, to keep Dumbledore from thinking something was wrong."
"You really were to be in Slytherin, it wasn't something Dumbledore was trying to appease me with." Everything for than more than the last decade was a lie, everything he had believed in was a lie, all by Albus "let me rule" Dumbledore.
"I just told you about the compulsions, what makes you think he wouldn't try it on the hat."
Snape could see that Potter began to get agitated again. "I do apologize, it is a lot to take in." He really didn't want Potter upset. He needed to keep him calm.
"We need to disappear. Can you keep Dumbledore from coming here?"
He knew Dumbledore appearing in the floo was beginning to really bother Potter but there really wasn't much he could do about it. "Yes, he only had floo access, but he can't come through, he has no idea where the manor is."
"Good, contact Lucius, we will go from Malfoy Manor to Slytherin Castle. We need Lucius to get you through the wards. Yes, I know your mark has changed."
Talking about Lucius seemed to slow his agitation down. "Well, that answered that unasked question." Snape wondered what else he wasn't being told. "What are you thinking of right now, you seem to be pondering something besides what we are talking about."
"I am thinking I should have gone each year to the bank, but I didn't want to chance Dumbledore finding out."
Snape watched him. "No, I did the right thing at the time. Dumbledore would have found out and I would have had issues if he did. Granger and Weasley will be trouble. He will bring Black into this. Can I take my OWLs anytime?"
Snape was having a hard time following his thought process. How did he go from the bank to OWLs? "Yes, you might have to pay to take them outside of when they have them scheduled, but everyone can take them whenever they have them scheduled. Most home school children pay to have them taken outside of the scheduled times because they are usually off schedule from a Hogwarts education."
Potter nodded at the information. "Kreacher."
The elder elf appeared. "Master Harry?"
"Anything interesting happening at the house?"
"Yes, Senile is calling a meeting, Nasty Master was telling the other Fleabag. Screeches is in my kitchen making a mess." Kreacher wasn't at all like he appeared to be when he was at Grimmauld Place.
Snape tried not to laugh at the names Kreacher had given them. He thought the elf was crazy but that seemed to be an act too.
"Tell me later what happened."
"Of course Master. I be seeing you later after the meeting." Kreacher disappeared.
"You have the elf working for you?" Snape asked.
"Yes, Kreacher is surprisingly good at finding out information and since Black didn't bond with him, I did. He has been very helpful. Lady Black is also most helpful in a number of ways."
Snape thought about all the meeting she had interrupted, increasing almost everyone's desire to end the meetings and leave. "You, you are the reason she screams and yells."
"Got it in one. She was kind enough to inform me I was technically Lord Black, not Sirius, according to the family charter. I just need to go to the bank. I am seeing more and more reasons to go to the bank and soon."
"Let me floo Lucius and we can go and see the Dark Lord." Snape glanced at Potter, "Is the prophecy real?"
"Not in the way you think. It isn't about the Dark Lord, it's about Dumbledore. The goblins gave my father a copy of it. Interesting in that the name of who can pick it up at the Ministry was changed to Voldemort, it doesn't say Tom Riddle. After seeing the original one, and putting together the pieces with the help of the goblins, Dumbledore name was revealed as the other person who can pick it up besides me." Potter paused. "I should add that Dumbledore did the ritual that mostly stripped Neville of his magic, it's why the boy has a hard time, plus the wrong wand, that isn't helping either. I have been meaning to tell that boy to get a new wand."
Snape sat back down in the chair. "It's all a lie basically." Forgetting he was going to floo Lucius.
"Yes." Potter sat back down and grabbing the book he had been reading.
"Exactly how long have you been working against Dumbledore?"
"Since my first year actually. I had talked to the Dark Lord, we knew the score and neither one of us wanted a show down. I never wanted to go after that stone. Again, a lovely little setup and compulsion charms. I didn't know what they were then, took a lot of reading, and boy was that hard to hide, Granger and Weasley are always demanding things of me. Granger, with her studying but only what she wanted, Weasley with the chess and Quidditch. He pants at chess really, everyone lets the boy win so they don't have to listen to him whine. Quidditch while I enjoy flying, I do not enjoy being used as target practice."
Potter was quiet for a few minutes and Snape was beginning to process everything he had learned. He picked up Potter's journals and began to flip through them. He had been expecting the emotional rantings of a teenager, instead, he noticed they had more facts and questions. The questions had answers that looked like they were added later, as at times the color of the ink was different. There were also copies of everything he had already seen. "These could work as proof of what you said."
"I know." Potter looked up from the book he had been reading earlier. "Are you ready now? May I take this to finish reading? I don't have a copy of this book."
Snape glanced at the book. "The Dark Lord does, he is where I learned about the book." It was a book on potions. Potter nodded and Snape started toward the floo. "Who would have thought you turning into a living vampire would change my world?"
Potter laughed, it was a deep hearty laugh, one he had never heard from Potter before. "Nothing is never normal around me."