A/N: Many of you have wondered what Severus would do now that he's been informed by Lyra that Harry is abused. One of my reviewers wondered what he would do now and if he would act quickly. I'd like to point out the fact that even though patience isn't a virtue it is still necessary to function like a sane human being (I'm still not so good at it) as well as that Severus is a Slytherin. When has he ever done anything quickly? For now, he's just going with the flow.
Chapter 7:
Severus Snape and Harry Potter, the most unlikely pair anyone could ever set eyes on, were laughing together, sniggering behind their hands.
They had been walking down the Alley, both of them stoic, Harry speaking quietly to Lyra while Severus listened in and occasionally made a small comment, when Harry bumped into a man. He wasn't extremely odd looking, rather plain, actually. And Harry had apologized, twice. But the man was prejudiced and had heard them both talking to the snake. The mousy man had scrambled away from them both with pure loathing on his face.
It was then that Severus had looked at Harry to find the boy with an amused expression on his face. "Why, Mr. Potter, would you be smiling after a confrontation like that? Don't you have any self-respect?" Harry merely smiled mockingly at the man's retreating back,
"My self-respect is very high, sir, but I've come to find that people are often blind when it comes to things they do not understand. There was a quote my old teacher used to recite to the class, in Muggle Primary School. It went along the lines of 'It's better for someone to hate you for what you are than to have them like you for what you are not'. It's stuck with me ever since." The boy shrugged and kept walking and Severus simply stared at him. It was rare, if ever, that you'd find an abused, shunned, not mentioning teenaged boy with such poise. He quickly followed him, mumbling as they walked,
"Well, I'm sure no-one likes him either way."
He was startled by a quick burst of laughter from the usually docile boy before it was quickly stuffed into quiet snigger, "Yes, sir, I believe his mother in all probability has a rather diminutive opinion of her brave son's valor." This elicited similar laughs from Severus as well before he too muffled his amusement.
And so, the two were standing in the middle of Diagon Alley laughing about the stupidity of ignorant people, with crowds milling around them, giving them looks that varied from curious to amused to frightened.
A/N: I know this is slightly moronic to add a fluff bit in this story, especially after what happened in the last chapter, but there was an article I read for Journalism class and it made me sort of depressed about child abuse. It was about this three year old boy who was beaten to death by his parents for wetting himself. I felt that we could use a little bit of happiness when writing about something so sad. Please remember the small child and if you know of or are experiencing in some way a form of child abuse, please call the proper authorities. If you don't know a hotline number, call 911 (America).
