July 20

"Hey Hedwig, feel like taking some letters for me?"

Hedwig clicked her beak and fluffed her feathers.

Hari grinned. "You're the best, girl. Take these to the twins first. If they agree to the meeting, take the other letters to Luna and Neville, okay?"

She bobbed her head and took off flying through the spelled window.

Hari turned her attention back to the plans for Hogwarts.

"That is not an ordinary mail owl." Tom stated coming up behind her and settling in the chair beside her.

"Hmmm," Hari looked up at him. "Oh, Hedwig. She's always understood me. I didn't know it was odd until the other students looked at us weird."

"Nagini understands me the same way even when I don't speak in parseltongue. I would guess that your owl is actually a familiar. You should do the ritual and activate the bond between you two."

"A familiar? I thought very few people found one."

"That's because most people are too average to attract one." Tom replied snootily.

Hari laughed softly and returned to her document. "If you think I should do the ritual, I will as long as Hedwig doesn't object."

"See, that's what makes everyone look at you odd. No one else would care what the owl thought."

Hari glanced up at him. "She was the first magical creature I encountered. The first night I had her I stayed up all night talking to her. I told her all about the Dursleys and my life up to that point. She felt more like a confidant than a messenger from the beginning."

Tom stared then averted his gaze. "You are definitely doing the ritual…barring her objections." He added the last after seeing the stubborn jut of his wife's chin.

"I don't want you going tomorrow without a guard." He raised his hand when she fluffed up indignantly. "I don't trust Dumbledore or his Order. I'm trying to retire Voldemort. I don't want to burn Britain to the ground to get you back from him."

Hari stared at him. "You'd do that?"

Tom met her stunned gaze. "Yes. And not because of the contract. I find myself actually liking you."

Hari rose from her seat and leaned over to kiss him. "Then I will be gracious about guards. As long as it not the Lestranges. Neville Longbottom is going to be there."

Tom looked uneasy. "I did not send them to the Longbottoms." He said quietly. "I have no idea how to make it right."

Hari sighed. "I'm not sure you can short of giving them up and I know they are too valuable to you. Besides, you gave up Pettigrew. Give up any more followers and you'll lose their trust in you."

Tom nodded. "I know. I feel…regret for them."

Hari reached out and linked her fingers with his in silent compassion as she continued to work out new classes and rules.

The wards chimed indicating an arrival. "Severus," Tom informed her. "Most likely here to start your lessons."

"Lessons? When did he agree to lessons?"

"I asked for you the other night. I explained you were treated as a magically raised child instead of a muggle raised one. He is sorry for the lies he believed and the way he treated you. Take this peace offering Hari."

Hari bowed her head, trembling. "I won't be yelled and sneered at in my home."

Tom felt a flare of warmth at her claiming his house as her home. "He will be on his best behavior. He is likely still in shock that he didn't have to grovel."

Hari's lips quirked. "You are not allowed to ever tell him I could never make him grovel."

The respect and admiration she had for the dour man amazed Tom. He caressed her cheek. "Your secret is safe with me."

The door to the courtyard opened as Annie escorted Severus in.

Tom looked up, amused at the two of them. "Ah, Severus. I was just informing Hari that you agreed to teach her Potions from the ground up."

Severus cut a nervous glance at the teen. Hari refused to meet his eyes for a moment then she flicked a glance up and away as she stood. "I appreciate you giving up part of your summer. I promise to try my best."

Severus blinked. He hadn't truly believed the Dark Lord when he said she wanted him to teach her. He figured the Dark Lord was demanding she learn. He expected a sullen pupil. "I shall strive to put the past aside, my lady. We shall start with a clean slate which means I will act as if you do not know the difference between slicing and dicing, etc. I brought books that parents generally give their children before they come to Hogwarts. They are basic and, at your age, perhaps a bit demeaning in their simplicity. For that I apologize, but they are where you'll learn the groundwork for brewing."

"You don't need to my lady me, Professor. Hari will do or Miss Po…no that won't do now will it," she grinned impishly at Tom. She waved a hand airily. "We'll sort it out. And I don't get the difference so I won't be insulted at the books."

She stepped from the table. "Shall we adjourn to the brightly lit potions lab?"

Severus scowled, but nodded. "I suppose you are going to prefer the shutters open." He complained as he followed her from the room.

Hari chuckled. "You are the Potions Master. I will defer to your wishes."

Severus shot an astonished look at her. "Perhaps we can compromise and close half of them."

Hari narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as they climbed the stairs. "Does the sunlight actually bother you, Professor?"

Snape speared her with a sharp, probing look. Hari gazed back nervously thinking she'd already angered him before they even started. "It was honest concern, I swear."

Snape sighed. "I do have a…sensitivity to bright light."

"Then we'll close the shutters." Hari replied gently.

Snape stared at her until Hari shifted uncomfortably.

"What?"

"It's just…that was…" He swallowed and looked away. "Your mother responded the same way." He said roughly then swept up the stairs.

A chink in his armor. Hari blinked back tears and grinned as she raced after him.

When she entered the lab, the shutters were closed except two at the far end of the room and he was swiftly and efficiently gathering several different types of ingredients.

She moved cautiously toward the table he was setting up.

He glanced up and saw her wariness. He paused and looked down. "I owe you an apology."

"You already gave me one."

He shook his head and took a deep breath. "If I am going to give you private lessons, we are going to be spending a great deal of time together. The air needs to be cleared."

Hari saw that the proud man was uncomfortable. "Whatever you say to me I'll keep in confidence. Even from Tom if you wish."

Snape flashed her a startled look. He straightened his back. "Your mother was my best friend. We met when we were nine. Even after we entered Hogwarts and were sorted into diametrically opposed Houses she stood beside me. Your father…" he paused.

Hari sighed. "I'll make it easy for you. My father was an arrogant jerk, a bully."

Snape looked at her. He nodded silently. "He liked Lily and the more she refused him and spent time with me the worse the bullying became. My home life was…similar to what I now know yours was like. My father was a vicious drunk. My mother too weak-willed to stand up to him or to leave. Each year my home life grew worse and the bullying at school escalated as well. Lily tried to help, but she was the catalyst for the bullying. Add to it that the Dark Lord was recruiting from within Slytherin. Pressure was brought to bear within the House. I was bullied in the halls and beaten at home."

Snape turned away to retrieve a set of knives. "The memory you saw last year was the event that broke me. I snapped and vented all the rage and humiliation I was feeling on the first person that approached me."

"My mother."

Snape nodded. "I lost her friendship with one ill thought out sentence. Without her friendship, I gave in to the pressure to take the Dark Mark. Hate consumed me. I hated my father for the abuse. I hated my mother for being too weak to protect me. I hated your father for taking my only friend away."

Snape's hands were trembling as he turned back and set the knives on the table. "That she married the man who bullied me mercilessly for seven years hurt worse than any blows my father ever landed." He admitted quietly. "Then the prophecy pointed toward you. I blamed Potter and you as well as myself for her death. If he had let her alone, if she hadn't had you, she would have lived. That was how I justified hating an infant."

Snape raised wet, remorseful eyes to the young witch sitting pale and silent before him. "That hatred festered when Dumbledore told me how well Petunia treated you. That you were living in luxury and spoiled rotten while Lily was dead ate at my soul."

Hari blinked and felt the tears trickle down her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

Snape choked and snarled. "Don't apologize to me. You are the victim here. An innocent child used as a pawn between two powerful wizards and I turned my bitterness and hatred on you so I wouldn't have to admit my own fault in the events. I owe you more than an apology. More than I can ever give you."

Hari glanced down at the table. She shook her head and looked up, eyes burning. "It all boils down to Dumbledore. He messed with Tom as a child molding him into something Dark so he could defeat him. When that failed and the Light was losing the battle, he heard the prophecy indicating his downfall and made a false prophecy to try and circumvent it and sacrificed my parents and you to his goal of eternal glory. You want to repay me? Help me destroy him. Help me take away everything he holds dear then help me kill him."

Snape stared at her and realized he never had a clue to who she really was. Vengeance burned bright in her eyes.

The door opened and the Dark Lord stood there, eyes red, studying the tableau. "Wife you are emitting a very strong fury and desire for someone to die. Please tell me it's not my Potions Master."

Snape shivered at the threat in the Dark Lord's voice. One word from Hari and he would die.

"We were discussing Dumbledore's duplicity." Hari replied icily.

Riddle strode in and wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her head. "He will pay dearly before he dies."

"I was offering Professor Snape the opportunity to help while getting some revenge for himself."

Tom looked up at Severus. His eyes cobalt blue again.

"I was explaining the history behind my abysmal attitude toward her."

"Ah. So things are settled between you?"

"Yes." Hari said firmly. "Now go away so I can learn the difference between slicing, dicing and chopping."

Severus' eyes widened at the dismissal. No one dismissed the Dark Lord.

Tom turned her around and cupped her chilled cheeks. He bent and kissed her breathless then turned with a smirk and left.

Hari drew in a steadying breath. Her cheeks flamed as she turned back to Snape. "Can we pretend he didn't do that in front of you?"

Snape flushed. "Yes."

"Good."

Snape glanced down and cleared his throat. "When something calls for an ingredient to be sliced it is always lengthwise." He slid a root over to her and took one himself. He demonstrated the smooth, even slicing motion and the perfectly portioned cuts so each piece was the same width.

Hari bit her lip and concentrated on making each piece the same size. He made it look so easy and effortless.

"Very good. Dicing is width-wise." He pushed another ingredient at her and demonstrated.

"Chopping can be rougher. The pieces different sizes."

"Questions?" He asked a short time later.

Hari frowned. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why are some ingredients sliced and some diced or chopped? Is it something about the way their properties are within the whole that makes one way release the needed property better?"

Snape stared. He had not expected such insight from the girl.

Hari flushed. "Stupid question?" She asked hesitantly.

He shook his head. "No, quite insightful actually." He blinked at her flush of pleasure. Did she truly want his approval? He held out the root they had sliced earlier. "You can see the way the membranes enclose the inner sections. If you diced the root, you would get smaller secretions so if you want a small amount of barnot juice you dice. If you slice you open the entire section and release a great deal more at once."

Hari rubbed her neck. "So you not only need to know how much of each ingredient you need for the desired result, but you need to know the anatomy of the ingredient whether it's a plant, animal or mineral, etc."

"Yes, unless you are satisfied being merely a competent brewer. Then you just need to know how to follow instructions competently."

Hari shifted. "Except sometimes the instructions in our books are wrong or perhaps not accurate is a better phrase."

Snape stared at her. "And how did you come to that conclusion?"

Hari twisted the root in front of her nervously. "Last year when Slughorn admitted us with 'E's. I hadn't purchased a book so he let me get one from the classroom. It had all kinds of notes written in the margins. I'm not sure, but I think maybe it was an old textbook of yours." Hari glanced up at him to judge his reaction then riveted her gaze back on the table.

"Mine?" Snape hissed. "Why do you think it's mine, Miss Potter?"

Hari flinched. "Because the changes to the recipes were brilliant. My potions came out much better than they ever did when I followed the notes scribbled in…and there were spells jotted down."

Snape glared at her. "Do you still have this book?"

Hari nodded. "In my trunk."

"Could I see it?"

Hari twitched and called for Annie. "Bring me my trunk please Annie."

When the trunk arrived, Hari opened it with a hiss of parseltongue and dug down for the book she had wrapped carefully to preserve. She pulled it out and handed it to him.

Snape held the book in a tight grip. Gently, he opened it, flipping through the pages. "I gave it to your mother." He murmured. "I thought…" he turned and moved to one of the un-shuttered windows gazing out blindly ignoring the sting of the direct sunlight. "I thought she had destroyed it after I insulted her."

Hari hugged herself to keep from offering him comfort. She knew he wouldn't appreciate it. She closed her trunk and shrunk it. Pocketing it, she cleaned up the table before she headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" He asked when she opened the door.

"You seemed to want to be alone."

Snape sighed at the caution back in her voice. "I find myself apologizing a lot here lately."

"No need, sir."

Snape turned and held the book out to her. "You may keep it if you wish."

Hari flushed as she took it back. She wrapped it back up and put it back in her trunk for safe keeping.

"The Dark Lord said you expressed a desire for me to teach you. Why, when I've been nothing but cruel to you?"

Hari looked up at him. "Because you are brilliant. You know so much that we really do all seem like idiots in comparison and not just at potions. I've seen you fight. You are wicked fast and seem to have a wide repertoire of spells. You're innovative and think outside the norm. You don't just repeat what's been done. You create."

"When have you seen me fight?"

Hari tapped her scar. "Live feed when he's distracted."

Snape's gaze flicked up to the scar and he paled. "You've seen me on raids."

She nodded.

"And in…meetings."

She ducked her head and nodded.

The silence was suffocating. Hari shifted nervously.

"You knew I wasn't a spy for Dumbledore."

"Yes."

"Yet you never told him what you saw or heard."

She glanced up at him. "He wanted me mute and ignorant. I let him have me that way. Besides, you never gave me up when you had the chance either."

Snape stared a long moment then chuckled. "Read the primer and the first chapter of Beginning to Brew. I shall return day after tomorrow and we will actually brew something."

"Yes, sir."

Hari hurried from the room.

HP/TM

POTTER'S HOME BURNED TO GROUND. RELATIVES FOUND DEAD INSIDE HOUSE

This reporter has discovered that late on July 18th the Savior's relatives were tortured to death and then their house burned to the ground. The bodies of her aunt, uncle and cousin were found burned in the living room. Evidence indicates they were brutally murdered before the fire started.

Muggle law enforcement are stumped as to the random violence of the attack. The Dursleys lived in what is called a 'nice, suburban neighborhood'. That means houses that look hideously alike and placed on tiny plots of land so close together you cannot help but hear what is happening next door. The muggles that live in these houses are moderately well off financially and usually law abiding.

No one saw or heard anything suspicious that night until the house went up in flames. In fact, it was nearly burned down before the neighbors became aware it was on fire.

Readers, these facts led this reporter to believe it was a magical attack. The injuries inflicted on their bodies were extensive. That neighbors did not hear screams indicate a silencing ward was placed. That no one noticed flames licking up the sides of the house and dancing from the windows indicates a notice-me-not. And who would attack our beloved Savior's relatives except followers of You Know Who?

How did they find her home after all these years? Did they attack so viciously because she was not found at home? And yet, everyone knows she married on July 17th and would not be there.

Rumors have existed all these years that strong wards protected the home of Hari Potter. Did the wards fall immediately upon her marriage? Did they trace lingering bits of magical signature to the muggle house? Or did they find the house by another means?

Every attempt to find Hari Potter Riddle to seek her reaction to this horrific crime has failed. Where is our Savior? Is she on her honeymoon blissfully unaware that her last remaining relatives have been killed? Is she hiding with her new husband from the remnants of You Know Who's followers? Or is there something more sinister behind their deaths?