Chapter 9

Shared Blood


Disclaimer: Well I still haven't won the right to Harry Potter (yet), so it still belongs to J.K Rowling. Though I'm sure that you would prefer her to write the stories so I guess I should just give up on it. So yeah, I don't own Harry or Snape :'(

A/N: Well I have started making an outline about how I want this story to go. I'm finally organized, yay me. And for all of you who have me on author alert, you might get one soon I have started writing another story. I'm not going to say what it is about, but Snape is in it and I have most of the outline written, so make your suggestions early for it. Lol. I would again like to thank pointblank1 for correcting my errors, there are a lot. She works hard. READ HER STORY!! Don't you love advertisements? Hope you enjoy, if you don't like how the story is going then let me know- I can always change it. I am adaptable, now enough of this, enjoy.


"Alright, Severus. For now you won't have to teach him, but there may come a time when we won't have a choice, and you will have to. And, should that time come, I won't hear a word against it," Dumbledore eyed Severus over his half moon spectacles.

"We'll see," said Snape begrudgingly.

And with that, Snape turned on his heel, robe billowing behind him, and left the office. He was heading for his own office, where he would use some of the potion that he had brewed earlier that week.

The prefect badges have come, Ron has gotten his broom, and Harry got on the train with not so much as a second glance……….

Harry led Ginny through the train, weird glances followed him as some glanced out their windows to see a semi-familiar boy walk in front of the Weasley girl. They had almost reached the back of the train when they ran into Neville.

"Hi, Ginny. Everywhere's full," said Neville brightly. Neville didn't seem to notice Harry, which suited him fine.

Ginny looked into the next apartment that sat to the left of where they were standing.

"Well, Neville we can go in this one. There's only Luna Lovegood , and I don't think she'll mind," said Ginny

Neville muttered something about not wanting to bother anyone, but stood behind Ginny as she opened the door that led to the compartment.

"Hi Luna, would it be alright if we joined you?" asked Ginny.

Luna nodded, and Ginny, Neville and Harry brought their trunks in and sat down. Once they were seated all eyes were on Harry; he had been thrown in the spotlight. Neville's eyes grew wide as he recognized his friend.

"Wow, Harry, is that you? I didn't recognize you. You look so different. What happened, did you try to make a potion and did it go wrong, or is this just a new look that you wanted to try out?" asked Neville, eyes bright with excitement.

"No, Neville, it's just growing pains, if you can call them that. You know- your appearance changes when you grow up. Well, mine changed pretty… drastically," muttered Harry in a gloomy voice.

"Oh, right," said Neville, now looking doubtful, "Well I though, um…" he trailed off as Harry shot him a look that clearly stated that Harry would have no problem jinxing him if he went any further.

Neville changed the subject, "Oh, Harry, do you want to see what my Uncle Alfred got me? It's really cool!"

Harry didn't reply. He just stared out the window and ignored Neville. He wanted to just sink into the seat. He wanted to disappear.

Neville looked over to Ginny, who rolled her eyes and said, "Well come on, Neville, let's see this plant that your uncle got you."

Neville smiled and asked Ginny if she could hold Trevor, his toad. Ginny obliged as Neville handed the toad over and started rummaging around in his trunk.

Harry couldn't help but glance over and watch as Neville found his plant. The plant in question resembled a cactus, except instead of needles it had boils, and it pulsed slightly. Neville pulled it out and sat it on his lap.

Harry turned away as Neville proudly announced what it was. He wanted nothing to do with the plant. It was just a plant, for crying out loud. Buried in his own thoughts, Harry didn't see what Neville did next. The next thing Harry knew, he was covered in a sticky, smelly, foul-looking sap.

Harry stood up abruptly and glowered at Neville, who was covered from head to toe in the sap. Ginny looked similar to Neville in that she too was a mess. Luna, who had gone back to a magazine that she had been reading earlier, had just a few drops of it on the cover of her magazine. Putting the magazine down, she turned and looked around with mild surprise.

"Well, that was interesting," sighed Luna.

Harry turned to her sharply, "Well, don't just sit there!"

Ginny was the first to comply, sighing she handed Trevor to Luna and took out her wand. With a quick scowl at Harry, she waved her wand and said, "Scourgify."

The Sap quickly disappeared almost as quickly as it had come.

"Hmm," said Luna, "I guess that's better." She turned her magazine over to make sure that it was all right.

Harry, still frowning, turned to look out at the countryside that whizzed past them. He took no notice of the food trolley that came in, and didn't even glance at Hermione and Ron when they entered.

The rest of the trip went by pretty uneventfully. They weren't even bothered by the appearance of Draco Malfoy and his two gits, which Harry was thankful for. He didn't want to deal with Malfoy when he, Harry, was feeling so miserable. Somewhere along the line, Hermione suggested that they change into their uniforms, and Harry changed with Ron and Neville while the girls stepped out for a bit. Once changed, Harry resumed his spot by the window.

All too soon for Harry, the train started to slow down and came to a halt. Ron and Hermione excused themselves so that they could lead the train's passengers onto the carriages. Harry took little notice of there absence however, and made his way to the nearest carriage.

Thankfully, Ginny, Luna, and Neville followed closely behind. He didn't think that he could handle trying to explain himself to anyone else tonight. Harry had just reached the door when Ron and Hermione came hurrying up to the group.

"Good, you got a carriage," panted Hermione.

"Yeah, come on, I want to get this over with. Can we go now?" asked a frustrated Harry.

Harry had just turned to look at Ron when he caught sight of it. There was something where there had been nothing, and it was pulling the carriage. It was horse-like in appearance, but black and scaly with dark wings folded at its sides. If he had to describe them, he would say that they were skeletal black horses with wings, but not even that did them any justice.

As Hermione climbed into the carriage, Harry turned to Ron and poked him in the side.

"Ouch," gasped Ron, "What is it, Harry? God, that hurt."

Harry rolled his eyes and nodded toward the strange horse, "Well, I wanted to get your attention. Do you know what that thing is pulling the carriage?"

Ron stared at Harry with a funny look, then looked over at the harnesses.

"Um, Harry, there's nothing pulling the carriage. It's horse-less as always, that why they're called the horseless carriages, mate," said Ron.

"But," stammered Harry, "They're right there. Can't you- don't you see them?"

Ron looked at Harry and asked, "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Harry? You do seem a bit off." The others were staring at him now.

Ron looked worriedly at Harry, then motioned with his head to the carriage, "Come on, Harry. Let's go, once you've eaten you'll feel loads better."

And with that, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione got into the carriage, leaving Harry outside with Luna. Luna looked over at the horses that Harry was staring at.

"You know, I can see them too," whispered Luna as she looked back at Harry, wide-eyed, "you're not going crazy, if that's what you were thinking. You're just as sane as I am."

Luna turned and got into the carriage.

Harry looked back at the horse-like thing and sighed, "Please don't let me be crazy." Then he turned and got into the carriage.


Snape sat in his study, writing up some last-minute notices that would be posted in the Slytherin Common room later. He always wrote out the rules and other important dates. He would let the prefects deal with the rest.

Snape refused point-blank to talk to his Slytherins the first night, or any night if he could manage it. As long as Malfoy and Pansy did their jobs he would have no need to go into the Slytherin common room.

With a flourish of his quill, he finished the last of the notices. Putting the quill aside, he picked up his wand and enchanted the notices. They flew out of the room. Now that he'd finished those he would have to make his way to the Great Hall.

He had hoped that could skip the feast, but the Headmaster had stamped on that earlier that day. He even told Snape that if he didn't show up he would cut some of the funding that was going to the Potions Department. Snape didn't really take the threat to heart, but he didn't want to push the Headmaster either.

Snape hoped against hope that nobody would notice the brat-who-wouldn't-drop-dead's new appearance. He still hadn't told the Dark Lord, and he hoped to keep it a secret from him a little longer.

It wasn't that he was afraid of telling the Dark Lord. He was just afraid of what the Dark Lord would do with the new information. A part of him was concerned that this would make it harder to lead his double life.

Snape decided that, if he absolutely had to, he would just tell the Dark Lord that Harry's true parentage had become a moot point when Dumbledore had "forced" Snape to make the Unbreakable Vow. He was sure that the Dark Lord would force him to show the memory of the incident, and Snape hoped against hope that there wasn't loophole in the Vow.


Harry made it to the Gryffindor table without too many looks and he started to feel a little bit of hope stirring in his chest. Maybe he could make it though the school year like everything was normal.

Harry glanced towards the head table and looked at each of the teachers in turn, except, of course, Snape. Harry's eyes stopped at a teacher sitting in the Defense Against the Dark Arts seat. It was the same woman that had been at his hearing. Harry turned to Hermione to tell her this, but Dumbledore stood up.

Silence fell in the Great Hall.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. To our new students- welcome. To our old-welcome back. I hope that you all had a great summer and now that your heads are all nice and empty you can take this year to fill them up……" He continued with his usual quirky greetings. Harry couldn't stop looking at that woman. She'd voted against him at his Ministry hearing, when almost nobody else did.

The woman stood up next, preparing to speak. She announced that her name was Dolores Umbridge, and she'd be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts (as Harry had suspected). She went on and on, droning about how the Ministry was going to "help" Hogwarts.

"Well, that was enlightening," whispered Hermione when Umbridge finally stopped talking.

"Your not telling me you enjoyed that, are you?" stammered Ron.

"I said enlightening, not enjoyable, Ron. You need to get a dictionary," snapped Hermione. "I just mean she explained a lot in that speech."

"Like what?," whispered Harry.

"Like why we have her for a teacher. Also, the Ministry is taking over the school. That's what," said Hermione. "Now hush, I want to listen to the rest of what Dumbledore has to say."

Before Harry knew it, the feast was over. Benches scraped against the floor as everyone made to get up and get to their common rooms.

"Come on, Ron. We have to show the first years to the Common Room," said Hermione over the noise.

"Right! Hey, all you squirts, get over here," shouted Ron.

"Ron, you can't call them names!" exclaimed Hermione. "First years over here, please. First years, over here."

"They are squirts, though," whispered Ron to Harry.

Harry nodded back at Ron as a few came their way. "You know, I don't remember us being that small when we were first years, do you?" asked Harry

"No, we definitely weren't… well, I guess we'll see you in the common room," whispered Ron miserably as he stared at Hermione, who was leading the first years out of the Great Hall.

"Yeah, I'll see you," replied Harry just as miserably as Ron.

Harry lagged back a bit as he made his way up to the Common Room. He was planning on getting there after everyone had gone to sleep so that he wouldn't have to answer any awkward questions.

Unnoticed by anyone, Harry slipped behind a tapestry in an abandoned corridor on the 5th floor. Slumping against the wall, Harry cradled his head in his hands.

What on earth was he going to do about his appearance? He couldn't go on avoiding people forever. It would eventually get out that he looked differently then he had at the end of last year.

Harry sat there as long as possible before he finally looked down at his watch and saw that it was a quarter to midnight. Well, at least he had avoided the other students' stares. Now he just had to avoid the teachers as he made his way up to the Common Room.

On his way up, Harry narrowly avoided being spotted by Professor McGonagall as she made her way from, Harry guessed, the Gryffindor Common Room. Thankfully, there was a statue of armor to his right and he ducked behind it before she saw him. Once she had passed, Harry made his way to the Fat Lady's portrait.

Once outside the picture, Harry looked up at the Fat Lady and opened his mouth before he realized that he had no idea what the password was. He stared, dumb-founded, as he looked up at the Fat Lady.

"Password?" asked the fat lady.

"Umm, I don't know what it is. Could you possibly let someone inside know that I'm here?" asked Harry hopefully.

"I'll see if anyone is still up," said the Fat Lady in a stiff manner. She walked out of her frame.

"Um, thanks," whispered Harry almost to himself.

Harry waited there for what felt like forever. Minutes passed by slowly, and Harry felt a sinking feeling. What if everyone had already gone to bed? Surely Ron had noticed that his best friend hadn't showed up yet? Harry was hoping against hope that Ron had at least stayed awake.

Eventually, the Fat Lady squeezed back into her frame, and before Harry could open his mouth the door creaked open. Harry said a polite "thank you" to the Fat Lady and climbed in.

Once through, Harry saw that it wasn't Ron that had waited for him, but Ginny. She smiled at him. And before he could say anything, Ginny spoke up.

"Well, I had noticed that you hadn't come back, and I kind of figured that you would want to avoid the commotion. That's why I waited up," said Ginny.

"Right, well thanks. I don't think it would have been too great to sleep in the hallway on the first night back." replied Harry.

"No, it wouldn't. Well, it's late. I don't want to fall asleep in class on the second day back, either" sighed Ginny.

"Yeah, thanks again, Ginny. Good night." muttered Harry.

"Night," whispered Ginny with a small smile.

Harry headed over to the boys staircase and went up to his room. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, Harry could feel it.


Even though Harry was the last to fall asleep that night, he was the first to wake in the morning. His thinking was that he would get his breakfast and then get to class before anyone spoke to him. He knew that this wouldn't work forever, but he sure was going to try.

Harry got dressed and, before the sun even rose above the trees, left for the Great Hall.

The halls were quiet. By the time Harry had reached the Great Hall, there were already a few students at each table. Many of the teachers were at the Head table eating a fast breakfast before going back to their classrooms.

Harry went to the farthest end of the table, which happened to be directly in front of the Head table. Sitting down, Harry got himself some porridge and toast and began to eat as fast as he could.

As soon as he had finished, he hurried out of the Great Hall, but before he had escaped he heard a sharp cry from behind him.

"Mister Potter, get back here! You need your schedule," snapped Professor McGonagall.

Harry sighed and waited, not willing to move any closer the Great Hall than he had to. McGonagall made her way swiftly up to him.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment. Taking out her wand, she tapped the parchment and handed it to him.

"There you go, Mister Potter. Now you may go," said McGonagall crisply.

"Thanks, Professor," murmured Harry.

Turning from her, he made his way down a random corridor and behind the first tapestry he saw. Harry glanced at his schedule and let out a low moan. His very first class was Potions.

Perfect.

Sighing, Harry made his way to the dungeons, hoping that the door was unlocked and the room unoccupied.


To Harry's surprise, the door was, in fact, unlocked. Still, Harry hesitated before pushing it open. He dreaded spending any more time then what was necessary with Snape. Harry looked around and saw that there was another excellent hiding place right across from the door.

Harry couldn't believe his luck. He could avoid everyone till the last minute, and then right before the bell rang he could slip in and nobody would be the wiser.

Harry spent his time behind the statue of armor, looking through his potions book. He skimmed through the first chapter, hoping that if Snape did call on him he would at least know the answer. To his surprise, he was actually enjoying what he was reading. It was all very interesting. The first chapter was on detecting dark potions and how to tell them apart by their colors, smells, and consistencies. Harry was amazed to learn that the Draft of Smoke, which would cause its user to slowly die from suffocation, was so similar to the Draft of Life, which would counteract the Draft of Smoke. The two were often mixed up! The only noticeable difference between the two potions was that the Draft of Life smelled a bit like Smoke, whereas the Draft of Smoke had no smell. Harry found himself becoming completely absorbed by the textbook…

Harry heard a stampede of people coming towards him. A quick glance around the statue showed that breakfast was ending and people were now standing outside of the classroom door. Harry closed his book and quietly put it away before turning so that he could see through the gap between the statue's legs.

The first to arrive were, of course, the Slytherins. Harry couldn't think of any Gryffindor in their right mind who would voluntarily get to Potions early.

Harry caught snippets of conversation, most of which seemed to be about their new course schedules.

"Aw man, we still have Care of Magical Creatures with the Gryffindors," shrieked one girl.

"Damn, I had hoped that they'd have changed that, at least," said a boy with a gruff voice.

Just then, the Gryffindors started showing up, complaining about still having to take Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins.

Harry waited, listening to the jibes being sent between Gryffindors and Slytherins. From where he was sitting he could see that Hermione and Ron had finally arrived both, to Harry's mild surprise, looked worried.

Well, he thought, they didn't have any reason to be scared. Obviously he was going to avoid people! Then again, he hadn't seen either of them since the feast. Harry felt a twinge of guilt, but he pushed it aside.

Harry looked away from his friends when the door to the Potion's classroom flew open. Snape looked out, eyed each of the students, and sneered as he saw Ron and Hermione.

Finally, he stood aside and watched as they all passed in. Ron and Hermione were the last to enter, and they shot a worried glance down the corridor before glaring at Snape as they entered. Leaving the door open, Snape went to stand in front of the class.

This was Harry's chance. Getting up, Harry ran across the hall so that he could get into the room before the bell rang. And, just as he entered the classroom, the bell rang. Harry sighed and moved to sit in between his two best friends.


Snape glared as the good-for-nothing brat he came in and took his seat at the last possible second. He understood why the brat wanted to arrive late. But that change Snape's feelings.

Snape turned and surveyed the class.

"This is your fifth year at this school and, as such, you will have to take your O.W.L.S at the end of this year," whispered Snape in a quiet, dangerous voice. "Those of you wishing to take my N.E.W.T class will have to achieve at least an Outstanding on your O.W.L.S. This means that some of us will be saying good bye. But unfortunately, that happy day is a year away and until then I expect all for you to work as hard as you can You all should scrape an Acceptable at the very least."

Snape turned to the chalkboard at the front of the class and tapped it with his wand.

"Instructions are on the board. You have the whole class period. Begin," said Snape curtly.

There was a rush as everyone got up to get the ingredients that were on the board.

Looking around, he decided that everyone would be busy enough so that he could easily work on a potion in his private room.


Harry hoped that he would go unnoticed by everyone, maybe even by Draco Malfoy. Unfortunately, he clearly was going to have no such luck.

"Hey, Potter! What did you do to your face?" shrieked Pansy Parkinson.

"Potter, why would you want to look more like Professor Snape? I mean, anything's an improvement, of course, but honestly," said Draco, loudly enough for the whole class to hear.

Harry turned red and whipped out his wand without a moment's thought.

"One more word, Malfoy," whispered Harry menacingly.

"What Potter, are you going to hex me? You wouldn't dare, not right here in Snape's room," goaded Malfoy. If he was really worried, he hid it well.

They stood there staring at each other for a moment, then Malfoy's eyes widened. His eyes flicked from Snape's office door, to Harry, and back.

Harry could see a smirk growing on Malfoy's pointed face. And before Harry could even think of a hex Draco exclaimed. "I think I figured you out, Potter. Snape's your dad!" Malfoy laughed hysterically, as if he'd made a hilarious joke.

Not everyone took it as a joke, though. Harry could see people's faces, and some of them were looking at him very strangely. Wonder dawned on just about everyone's face, except for Crabbe's, of course. He looked like he'd been hit with a shovel, as usual.

Harry raised his wand and lost control. "He's not my father, Malfoy! There is no way in HELL that he is my father!"


Snape stepped into the room at that moment to see what was going on. He had heard some shouting and whoever had interrupted his potion was going to get a month's worth of detention, for it was now ruined.

Snape stood, stunned at what he saw: a very angry Potter with his wand out, and a very excited Malfoy getting his wand out. Snape could guess what Malfoy had just deduced from the look on Potter's face. But before he could do anything but gape, Potter shouted a curse.


Harry couldn't take any more and with out warning he shouted, "Confringo!"

Harry stood, chest heaving, as Draco fell to the ground. Harry had created an explosion, which had apparently hit Draco. What a shame. Without another word Harry left, blasting the door open before sprinting out onto the grounds.

Harry didn't know where he was going to go, but he had to get out of there. He was left with little choice. He figured it was either the Forbidden Forest or the lake. Well, he didn't have any gillyweed, so the lake was out. His only hope was that the daylight would keep any deadly creatures at bay.

Harry sprinted towards the Forest, trying not to think about what he'd just done.


Snape watched as his godson was hit by the force of the explosion. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Snape pushed his way past the students to get to Draco. With a quick diagnostic spell, Snape knew Draco's condition. His right arm was horribly damaged, and his sides and neck were badly burned. Snape honestly didn't know if Draco could recover. Snape's number one priority, though, was maintaining his composure.

"Well, what are you all looking at? I need someone to take Mister Malfoy up to the Hospital wing. I need to go find Potter," growled Snape. "No one is to touch their potions. For that matter, I want all of you to go to the Great Hall and wait there for further instructions."

Snape swept past the students, not even looking back to see if his orders were being followed. They would be, of course. As he broke into a run, he had a good idea of where the idiot had headed. Snape ran towards the Forbidden Forest.

Snape stopped outside the Forest. Deciding to play it smart, he sent his Partronus to the Headmaster to let him know the situation. He didn't even look at his Patronus as he produced it and sent its message to Dumbledore.

Snape gripped his wand and walked smoothly into the foreboding forest.

He hardly noticed how deep he was inside the woods until he looked up and realized that he couldn't see the sky.

He decided to use his Patronus to search from this point on. Pointing his wand right in front of him he shouted, "Expecto Patonum!" This time, he did look at his Patronus as it galloped away, but didn't make him feel any better.

Snape stood absolutely still and waited. To his surprise, it didn't take long before he saw a light in front of him. Snape gathered up his energy and ran.

Snape broke into a clearing and saw something that would later haunt his dreams. The brat was pressed against a huge tree, holding his wand in front of him, trying to repel a vampire.

Snape had no idea how a vampire had gotten into the Forest. It was supposed to be safe from vampires, but that wouldn't cross Snape's mind until days later.

Without considering what he was doing, Snape took a step forward. There was a "crack" when he accidentally stepped onto a twig. He couldn't believe his skills as a spy had failed him. He had broken one of the first rules: watch your feet.

The vampire turned and smiled at Snape. The creature's white teeth seemed to glow in the darkness. Then, before Snape could blink, he found himself pinned by his throat against a tree. With a loud thud, his head hit the trunk.

The vampire's red eyes glowed as he spoke, "You know, Severus, it's been so long. I was going to turn the boy for fun, and because I am hungry, but I think I'll leave that and change you instead."


I love cliff hangers, don't you? Lol! Will Snape be changed?Or will he remain human? You will find out in the next chapter. And guess what you get to pick when i release it. Because I have already written Chapter 10. So give me Reviews or I'll wait two weeks to release it. I'm mean i know.