Disclaimer: Never was mine / Never will be mine I am making no money from this story. Everything belongs to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.
I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed so far – So big thanks go out to all.
Re-posted and Beta read by JediCandy – Yeh!
Chapter Four – Removal From Public Danger.
Severus sat down in the chair opposite the young man and leaned his chin on his left hand, still leaving his wand arm free in case he tried anything foolish. If this was Harry Potter, the chances of him doing something foolish were highly probable. He was nearly convinced that this was indeed the Potter boy. He had that same stupid look on his face when he was being torn down a strip in potions class, like that of a house elf caught badmouthing its master. Severus had to admit for the first time in years that he was at a loss for words. What did one do in a situation like this? How was the world going to react when they found out their boy saviour was, well, no longer a boy?
***
It had been nearly 15 minutes since Snape had sat down opposite him and just stared at him. Harry was trying everything in his power not to squirm and fidget. But, damn, it was hard not too when you had the full Snape stare directed at you for this long. Most students and quite a few adults could only stand the 'Snape stare' for short periods of time. And here he was, having the full force of it directed solely onto him with no distractions like Neville too blow something up at an opportune time, to take the stare away from him. Damn, he thought again. It was then that his subconscious decided that it was bored and it wanted to have some fun. It reminded Harry of his earlier thought. 'You thought Snape looked yummy!' Harry visibly gulped and had the good grace to blush ever so slightly.
***
Severus noticed the slight blush that graced the boy's, no man's, no boy's but technically not quite… oh, damn it! The brat's cheeks! He couldn't help but smirk. It was a wonder to him how Potter kept surviving the Dark Lord's yearly attempts on him. If he couldn't handle the pressure of being stared at for a few minutes. He also had not missed the fact that the boy was trying and failing miserably at trying not to squirm. But he had to admit, it was a fetching look for the brat. As much fun as it would be to make Potter squirm all day, he had to get moving and inform Dumbledore of the new 'Potter problem'. Was it just him or did the boy seem to create a new 'Potter problem' every year?
"So, just how did this happen?" he asked pointing towards Harry.
"I don't know. I went to bed last night fine and woke up like this"
"You don't just wake up like this, something must have happened to you," he snapped.
"Honestly, Professor Snape, I just woke up like this!" Harry stressed, hoping that Snape believed him. Otherwise, it would be a very long day of repeating the same answer to the same question.
"Wizards don't just wake up one day, what, 10 years older? Something had to have happened to make you change!" Severus was starting to get annoyed at the brat. Surely simple logic told the boy that something must have happened to him because he was not in a normal situation. By the look on Potters face, obviously he did not. Severus sighed,
"Tell me everything you did yesterday, everything that happened to you no matter how insignificant you might think it is."
Harry paled visibly at this; he didn't want anybody to really know how miserable things were at home for him. He didn't even tell Dumbledore just how bad things were for him. He liked to keep it quite; he didn't want to be known as a whiner. He knew plenty of others had it worse then him, but still to tell Snape of all people was not on the top of his 'to do list'.
Severus had noticed the boy pale slightly and had to wonder why. He put it aside to think about later, he had to find some answers for the problem at hand.
"Well? I can assure you, Potter, nothing much shocks me if that is what you are worried about." Severus said with a slight teasing tone in his voice. "Now tell me everything!"
Harry knew there was no getting out of it, and why did Snape have to say it like that! God! What did Snape think he got up too? Did the think he paraded a bevy of beauties into his room to entertain him in the summer months? Now that thought brought another slight blush to his already slightly tinged cheeks. He took a deep breath, looked resolutely at the floor, and went on with his story.
"Well, I woke up and cooked breakfast for Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley. When I was done I did the washing up. I had to vacuum the house…"
"Vacuum? Explain!"
"Ummm it's an electrical muggle device to pick up dust and dirt from the floor."
"Oh! How quaint!" Severus replied, wondering how muggles ever survived the Stone Age. "Continue."
"Well. I then cooked lunch for Aunt Petunia and Dudley and his two friends. I then returned to my room and I did nothing until I was called by Dudley to cook the dinner for my family. After I did the washing up I returned to my room and did nothing until I went to bed."
"That was all? You did nothing else. I thought yesterday was your birthday, Potter. What, no party?" Severus said, half joking half serious. He would have thought that for the "boy who lived" there would be a big party. Especially since he had effectively come of age since yesterday and that was a big deal in the wizarding world.
Harry looked a little sheepish "Well, no, Professor, my birthday is today. Ummm anyway, my family don't ummm like to celebrate birthdays." You never know, he might buy it, thought Harry.
"Really. So nothing else happened. No strangers were in your house. You didn't eat anything unusual. You cooked and prepared everything you consumed yesterday?" Severus asked, not really buying into the whole 'my family doesn't celebrate birthdays' crap. But for now there were more important things to consider.
"Oh!"
"There's an 'Oh!'?" Replied Severus sarcastically.
"Well, yes" Harry said with a shy smile crossing his lips. "I received owls from my friends after midnight. But I knew who they were from"
"That makes no difference, was anything edible or wearable?" Severus interest was peaked; maybe this is where he would find his answers.
"Ummm Luna sent me this necklace." Harry's hand reached up to his necklace. "It's meant to be charmed to keep bad spirits away. But I feel no strong magical residue from it."
"Give it to me." Severus commanded holding out his hand.
Harry did as he was told, though he knew Luna would do nothing to harm him intentionally.
Severus took the necklace and had to admit Potter was right, there was no strong magic in it. But he had to be sure that no hidden charms had been placed on it. He took his wand and waved it over the necklace muttering the spell that revealed what charms were in place.
"Aperio" there was a small crackle and a shifting of light around the chain of glass beads. "You're right, Potter, nothing more then a low level banishing charm."
He handed the necklace back to the young man with a sigh "Did any of your friends send you anything to eat or drink?"
"Hagrid sent me some fudge, but I didn't eat any of it, its not very good for the teeth"
"That I can understand, having had first hand experience with Hagrid's homemade treats." Severus replied sarcastically.
Harry just smiled at him, finding it a little hard to imagine his Potions Master sitting down to tea with Hagrid and eating his treacle fudge.
"Then there was Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys' box. I ate one pie from it. Oh, and I had the flask of fruit punch. But that was all"
"Weasleys." He said in a tone as if that explained it all. "Did those pesky twins have anything to do with the package?"
"No, I don't think so. They don't live at home any more and I got their gift separately from their parents." Harry replied with a tone that was none to pleased with his Professor. He did not like the way he said the name 'Weasleys'.
"Watch your tone with me, Potter!" He replied narrowing his eyes ever so slightly
"Sorry, Sir," he thought he heard Snape mumble something about him being an impertinent brat under his breath. It took all his self-control not to roll his eyes.
Sighing, "Was there anything unusual about the food?"
"No."
"Don't answer so quickly and dismiss it out of hand just to spare someone's feelings!"
"Fine! The pie tasted fine! It was strawberry and chocolate, the pastry was sweet. The juice was very fruity and very Moorish." He desperately wanted to finish that sentence by sticking out his tongue. But his pride absolutely refused to let Snape see him acting like a petulant brat.
"Moorish, how?"
"What?"
"Were you born stupid or was it something that you learnt along the way?" Severus snapped at the boy. Then in a slightly softer tone, "Why was the drink so Moorish? Did you drink all of it? What exactly did it taste of?"
Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes to think back to the drink, Harry replied, "Actually it was a little bitter, had a strange undercurrent of aniseed to it, the main flavour was lemon and orange. But once I started to drink it I just couldn't stop!"
Silence one again fell between the two. "Strange," Harry said under his breath.
"What's strange, Mister Potter?"
"Sorry. Oh it's just that last night after I finished the drink I had one of the best night's sleep I've had in years, no Voldemort nightmares or anything." He saw Snape flinch slightly at the use of Voldemorts' name.
"You often have nightmares?" Severus asked before he could sensor his own thoughts. To cover his own tracks and not to sound like he cared he finished by saying, "And it's the Dark Lord, Potter. Don't say his name again in my presence."
"Sorry and yes, every night," Harry mumbled, looking a little embarrassed.
***
Severus brain started to kick in with this new information. Usually if sleep is bad, then a sleeping drought is the answer. This can only be ingested in liquid form, so that ruled out the pie. But it can be mixed with other potions to have other effects than just sleeping. Also, if there was to be a transformation, then putting the person into a deep sleep was often a good option. The person was not so uncomfortable and if you wanted to be underhanded then there was the added bonus of the person not noticing the changes until it was to late. Also, the aniseed flavouring was ringing alarm bells in his head, he just couldn't think why at the moment. He knew it would come to him sooner or later. Hopefully for the Potter brat sooner would be better.
"It's time for us to leave, gather your thing. Now."
Harry jumped up, knowing that tone of voice. It was the 'do what I say now or you will be cleaning cauldrons for a month without magic' voice.
"Where are we going, sir?"
Severus just looked at the boy and raised an eyebrow, "Where do you think you, idiot?"
"Hogwarts?"
Severus rolled his eyes "No, I thought I would take you on a muggle round-the-world romantic cruise for two. Yes, of course Hogwarts, Dumbledore needs to be made aware of your situation."
"No need to be so sarcastic about it, I was only asking."
"And there is no need to be such a dunderhead about it. And watch that tone of yours, Potter. We might not be in school yet, but we will be soon," he let the threat hang. He was happy to see the brat pale and look a little frightened. He couldn't help but smile cruelly at that sight.
Harry couldn't help but groan inwardly. Why him, why did he always get into these stupid situations? Why wasn't Ron having at least some of these problems? Share the burden a little, spread the trouble a bit. Snape handed him back his wand and he replaced it back up his sleeve. He was shoved out the door and back down the stairs and out into the bar.
"Finished early, Severus? You know you still have nearly 30 minutes left." Tom called over the bar to Severus.
"What can I say, Tom? The youth of today have no stamina!" He shot back in a tone full of sarcasm.
"You're not finally admitting that youth and beauty are not all they're cracked up to be, are you?"
"Maybe I am, but it sure helps though. Wouldn't you agree old friend?"
"Hey! Less of the old, I'm only a few years older then you, Severus."
Severus just smirked at his 'old' friend and simply replied, "Until next time, Tom. Good day."
He noticed that the Potter brat was blushing again and couldn't help but laugh inwardly. Thinking that yes it was definitely a good look on him. He would have to try and make him blush again when he was back to being his own age. Obviously for scientific reasons, he told himself; he needed to know if it was a good a look on his younger self as it was on his older version.
He led Potter back into the alleyway that he had first confronted the boy in. He stood behind him and wrapped his right arm around Potter's shoulders. He immediately felt the boy tense up in his arms. God, what did the boy think he was going to do to him? Now that sprung up images in his mind that he definitely did not want to think about. Especially when he had the boy in his arms in such a provocative position.
"Relax, it will make this easier." Severus muttered in Potters ear.
"Make what easier, Sir?"
Severus rolled his eyes "Apparation."
Harry started to panic, "But, sir, I can't apparate yet."
"Do you think I'm holding you in this position for fun, Potter? Well, I am not. I'm going to apparate us both back to the apparation zone just outside the Hogwarts wards. It's the quickest and safest way to get there"
"But I didn't think that you could apparate two people like this."
"It is possible, it is just a little bit illegal."
"But if it's illegal…"
"Who are you going to tell, Potter, mmm? I don't think it will be high on the list of my crimes, do you?"
Harry tried to think of happy thoughts, which was a little hard to do when Snape had mentioned his list of crimes. He had seen his professor in a few of his visions and dreams and he didn't like what he saw. He just had to keep reminding himself that it was all part of Snape's cover and he had to do these things, otherwise old Voldie would get very suspicious very quickly. However, his treacherous body welcomed the close contact and happily leaned back into the embrace.
"Better," he heard whispered in his ear. Great now that sent a shiver down his spine. What was his body doing to him, trying to kill him with embarrassment? That was his last thought as he felt a wave of nothingness come over him. The next thing he knew he was falling further back into Snape's arms in the forbidden forest.
***
"Sorry" he mumbled quickly while trying to secure his balance.
"It takes a while to get used to, but I'm sure you will." With that Snape straightened up and stalked off towards the castle. Harry ran to catch up with him. The walk up to the castle was a quiet one. Not wanting to annoy Snape further he decided to keep his mouth shut. As they passed through the front doors, a panic stricken McGonagall ran up to them.
"Severus, where have you been? We have been trying to get hold of you for the last 4 hours! There's been an emergency concerning Harry Potter," she shrieked. Harry had seen her angry before but never in such a panic.
"Really, Minerva! You should try a calming potion. It does wonders for stress."
"Severus, how could you be so calm at such a dreadful time! Poor Harry could be lost and alone anywhere, the mind boggles!"
"Minerva, the way you talk you would think Potter was a helpless whelp and not nearly a fully-grown wizard." Harry's mind jumped at that, did Snape again just pay him a compliment? This was definitely turning into one of the weirdest days of his life.
"Severus Snape! I can't believe even you would be that cruel! You–Know-Who might get a hold of poor Harry and do God knows what!"
Harry saw Snape roll his eyes at that statement, "You panic too much, and here I was thinking you were the one with all the faith in that brat." But before she could answer he started to walk away towards the stairs in the direction of the headmaster's office.
Then he barked out over his shoulder, "Come Potter, I don't have all day!" Harry at once began to follow him. He had never seen McGonagall gape at a loss for words before it was kind of amusing.
"Batty old cat!" he heard Snape mumble under his breath. Harry had to smile. He and Ron thought that on occasion, too.
They reached the stone gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office and Snape muttered the password 'candy hearts' and entered the stairway. He knocked on the impressive oak door when he reached the top.
"Come in, Severus," Severus couldn't help but shake his head. Just how did the headmaster do that? He entered the office leaving the door open for Potter to follow him.
"Afternoon, Albus, I thought I better bring in this stray that I found wondering the streets of Diagon Alley," Severus motioned to the young man behind him.
The headmaster approached Harry slowly, looking him over closely "Harry?"
Harry smiled his Gilderoy Lockhart award-winning smile; he couldn't help it. From the moment he got up this morning he thought nothing would go right. Until now. " Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore."
(Latain Translations: Aperio - Reveal)
Next chapter: A chat to Albus, Severus gets an idea about the potion Harry was poisoned with. And a trip to Snape Manor.
Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it didn't go on to long anyway tell me what you thought. Thank you again.