Disclaimer:
I'm not J.K. Rowling and I don't own these wicked little wizards as depressing as it is. Only Priya and Yulub are mine.
This chapter contains pieces of dialogue directly taken from "The Order of the Phoenix" – don't sue!
Chapter 7
"Stark raving mad"
He clutched the bottle as if he was holding on for dear life. With shaking fingers, magic momentarily forgotten, he uncorked the Firewhisky and … found no glass to pour in within arm's reach. He barked something rather rude at his house-elf, who jumped (eyes larger than dinner plates), bowed and then disappeared with a pop. But when Yulub, the devoted house-elf of Snape Manor, returned less than thirty seconds later with a glass in her hand, the bottle of Firewhisky was half-empty already.
And Yulub knew something was wrong.
She tiptoed over to where her master sat curled up on the floor and watched him tentatively, unsure of what to do. Yulub knew that in situations like this the common house-elf was to close their eyes and their ears, quietly disappear and get on with whatever chores had to be done.
Somehow that seemed didn't seem the right thing to do.
Besides, Yulub took great pride in the fact that here at Snape Manor nobody treated her like a common house-elf. She was being treated like family. That was what other house-elves told her anyway - some with awe, some with envy, but most with great distaste.
Her master now took another large swig from the expensive brew. When he put the bottle down again, he stared at Yulub with a dull, clouded gaze that scared the elf greatly. Suddenly her beloved master cringed as if the weight of his own body had become too much to bear. And then he moaned. It was guttural sound, saturated with so much pain that it made Yulub's heart ache.
And that was when Yulub ran for help.
Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley Dursley stood only a few feet apart, illuminated by the moonlight that shone down the narrow alleyway. Both boys glared at each other with a look of utmost contempt - but that's where the similarities ended. Whereas Harry was a pale, rather small and so-skinny-it-looked-unhealthy boy with round spectacles and raven-black hair, Dudley was blonde, chubby, a head taller than Harry and anything but malnourished looking. His brand name jeans and sneakers looked neat, new and expensive. Harry's clothes were torn, dirty and several sizes too large.
Dudley narrowed his eyes maliciously. 'Who is Cedric then? Your boyfriend?'
He snickered.
'Stop it, I'm warning you,' Harry said tonelessly.
'Cedric, oh Cedric!' Dudley wailed in a high-pitched voice. 'Cedric!'
'Dudley. Shut. Up.'
Dudley started rubbing his large chest and belly with his own hands. His eyes rolled back in his head and the tongue wriggled in and out of his open mouth. 'Oooh Cedric!' he squealed mockingly. 'Oh my God! CEDRIC!'
'SHUT UP!'
The bizarre expression of ecstasy on Dudley's face was now replaced by a cold sneer.
'Faggot!' he said.
Harry pointed his wand directly at his cousin's heart.
Fourteen years of loathing for the Dursleys ('There's no such thing as magic!') mingled with self-disgust ('He hates me!') and fused with the all the hatred he ever felt for Voldemort and his minions ('And they just laughed!'). The fatal combination surged through him forcefully, contaminating the magic in his veins, to concentrate in the tip of his wand. Right then and there he wanted nothing but to hurt.
Anyone.
It took Harry a moment to realize that the sudden chill of the night did not come from the biting anger inside of him.
There was a Dementor in Little Whinging.
'It's the Cruciatus Curse!' was Priya's first thought when she saw Severus lying on the dining room floor.
'Get Lucius!' she screamed at Yulub and the house-elf disappeared instantly.
Priya, a graceful woman in her fifties and of Indian descent, sank down beside the man she loved like her own son and cradled him in her arms. Severus clung to her tightly. His breathing came in short staccato gasps and his eyes seemed clouded with silent pain. She rocked him back and forth soothingly, whispering 'Hush, my dear, it's gonna be okay' and 'It's alright, Sev, I'm here.' - all those little things that meant everything and nothing at all.
'What's wrong?' Priya asked after a while, trying hard to keep the panic out of her voice. She kissed his head gently. Much to her relief, it didn't take long until Severus' breathing became steady and even again. His vision cleared and he sat up slowly.
'It's Harry,' he said. 'The bond is getting stronger.'
For a moment he thought Priya was going to cry. Tears sprung into her eyes and she brought her hands to her mouth quickly as if to hold back a scream. 'Oh, but Severus! That's wonderful!' she said at last, sounding jubilant.
Severus' smile did not reach his eyes. 'He's so angry, Priya,' he answered quietly. 'So hurt. And so full of hate.'
He buried his face in his hands. 'Priya, what have I done? What am I doing? This is all wrong! He's my mate! I'm supposed to protect him from all harm! Instead I've sent him straight into the arms of the Dark Lord.' His body tensed once more.
Priya took his hands in hers. 'You did NOT!' she said urgently. 'This is nobody's fault but Voldemort's, Sev! Albus Dumbledore should have never let the child participate in that Tournament in the first place! Don't you blame yourself now!'
Severus shook his head. 'I could have prevented this, Priya! If I had told Harry's future self about his time-jump, he could have told me about what happened that night!' he yelled. 'And I could have stopped the Third Task from happening and Cedric Diggory would still be alive today!'
Suddenly the door burst open and Lucius Malfoy came striding in, Yulub at his heels. 'What's going on?' he asked as he saw Priya and Severus sitting on the floor.
As soon as Severus spotted his friend, his face grew livid with anger.
'YOU!' he roared, grabbed the bottle of alcohol next to him and hurled it towards the blonde, aristocratic looking man. It missed his head only just and collided with the wall behind him, where it shattered into a hundred pieces. Firewhisky sprayed all over the wall. Lucius wasn't spared.
Lucius Malfoy never so much as flinched.
Calmly, he took out a handkerchief and dabbed his face and the few stains of liquid that were tainting his black robes. 'Oh really, Severus,' he drawled, sounding bored. 'Are you still harping on about-?'
Severus sprung to his feet, rushed forward and stopped only a few inches in front of the Blonde, looking ready to pounce. 'Harping?' he asked in a dangerously low voice. 'Harry could be dead now. He could have died and you wouldn't have cared. You would have just looked on!'
For the first time a hint of an emotion flickered over Lucius' face. 'You know that this is untrue, Severus,' he said. 'I did not just look on. If it wasn't for me, your dear Harry Potter would most probably dead now.'
Severus snorted. 'Oh please.'
Lucius Malfoy's exterior remained that of unconcerned calmness, but his piecing blue eyes were suddenly blazing. 'Do be fair, Severus!' he said. 'The Dark Lord's return came as much of a shock to me as it came to you. I did not know what to expect when I apparated to that graveyard. I did not know that Harry Potter would be there. I did not know! How many times do I have to tell you this?'
'HE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!' Severus bellowed, his eyes shimmering. Priya, who stood next to him, put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Lucius Malfoy nodded somberly. 'But he wasn't, Severus, he's still alive. I am not proud of what happened that night, but I did - not – just – look - on.' Lucius said, punctuating every word. 'I will admit that the boy is by far more talented and cunning than Draco ever let on …' He smiled. 'But there are only so many Death Eaters, only so many Killing Curses a fourteen year old wizard, no matter how powerful, can dodge. If the Dark Lord had realized about my counter spells, both Harry and I might well be dead now. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat, Severus.'
His face hardened and he hissed: 'Unlike some people in your life I care about you! I would give my life for you, Severus Tobias Snape, and that means I would give my life for your soulmate as well. You know that this is nothing but the truth.'
For a moment the two men looked at each other. Then, suddenly, Severus pulled the other man into a hug. 'Forgive me, my friend,' he whispered.
'It's quite alright,' Lucius replied calmly, patting the other man's shoulder swiftly before they let each other go. 'But allow me to say this much, Severus. I think it's time you forgot about that idiotic promise you gave that old fool. You can't hoodwink destiny! You've tried so hard to hate the child … and yet Potter has you now. Hook, line and sinker.' He smiled almost roguishly. 'How many more times will it require for your own future to sit on your lap and snog you senseless before you give in?'
Severus couldn't help but return a lopsided grin before turning serious once more.
'But the prophecy …' he started, but Lucius cut him off with a dismissive wave of his hand. 'Prophecies!' he spat. 'Are you really going to stand aside and let that Trelawney woman destroy both your life and that of the boy? Sibyll Trelawney, Severus, I'm asking you!'
'I gave Dumbledore my word, Lucius. I have to stay out of Harry's life,' replied Severus, never regretting the promise he once gave the Headmaster more than he did today.
'You may want to take your word back now, Severus,' a soft voice suddenly said from behind them.
A beautiful, delicate woman with long blonde hair just like Lucius' was standing in the doorframe, holding a piece of parchment in her hands. Severus recognized the red seal of the Ministry of Magic.
'Harry Potter has cast a Patronus,' Narcissa Malfoy said. 'They are going to destroy his wand.'
Severus felt decidedly out of place as he opened the little white gate to Privet Drive, number four, a few moments later. Muggle housings and the accompanying lack of magic in the air never seized to make him uncomfortable. Tonight though, the air around this particular house was charged with magic.
Harry Potter was stark raving mad.
Severus' footsteps made odd crunching sounds as he walked over the tiny pebbles that led his way to the door. His path was illuminated only by the light behind one of the windows of the neat but impersonal looking Muggle building that was his soulmate's home.
He stopped dead in his track when he heard the yelling from inside the house.
'OUT! OUT! You've had it! You're history! You're not staying here if some loony's after you! You're not endangering my wife and son, you're not bringing trouble down on us! If you're going the same way as your useless parents, I've had it!'
Within seconds the perfect picture that Severus had painted of Harry Potter's family life for the past fourteen years, the one of doting and loving relatives, crumbled to dust. Every passing word that traveled past the closed windows of Privet Drive, number four, into the clear, starless night added to his disbelief and anger.
And to the realization that his decision to come here had been the right one.
'Get out and never darken our doorstep again! Why we ever kept you in the first place, I don't know, Marge was right, it should have been the orphanage. GET OUT OF OUR SIGHT, YOU FREAK!'
Harry Potter had enough.
He crumpled Dumbledore's letter that warned him not to leave the house and flung it from him angrily. It bounced off his uncle's sweaty forehead and landed on the kitchen floor.
'FINE!' Harry bellowed. He brushed past his relatives, who gaped after him stupidly, and out of the kitchen. Clutching his wand in one hand, he strode down the narrow hallway and flung open the front door. 'I'm leaving, all ri-!'
Open-mouthed he stared at the person standing on the other side of the doorframe.
A wave of emotions washed over Harry, so sudden and with such a force, that his knees gave away and he had to cling to the door for support.
/ He wanted to tear open his face / He wanted to weep at his feet / What took you so long / He wanted to jinx him senseless / He wanted to throw himself into his arms / Take me home / He wanted to 'Crucio' him / He wanted to be picked up and carried away / What took you so long / He wanted to never see him again / He wanted to never let go / Take me home / What took you so long /
'Professor Snape!' Harry said.
Then: 'IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO STAY HERE FOR JUST ONE SECOND LONGER YOU BETTER THINK AGAIN, SIR, FOR I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF ALL OF THIS! I'M NOT SOME STUPID LITTLE CHILD ANYMORE AND I'M NOT JUST GONNA WATCH THEM TAKE AWAY MY W-'
'Get your things,' Severus interrupted.
Harry swallowed. 'What?'
'You want to get out of here? Then get your things and come with me.'
Harry blinked. 'Come with you where, sir?'
The expression of Severus Snape's face was unfathomable. 'Home,' he said.
Harry didn't move.
Severus shrugged. 'If you want to wait for the Ministry …' He turned around and started to leave.
'WAIT!'
Severus waited.
'Give me two minutes!' Harry said.
'You've got one,' said Severus.
To be continued
