Fickle Fate:Chapter 10
Good afternoon my readers! It's been dreary with rain this past week and now that the sun has finally come out!-I'm still staying inside. Way to hot out.
Warnings: Implied child abuse, graphic (not super graphic but present) child abuse, mentions of murder and torture.
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't have to apply for so many scholarships to get through school.
Please enjoy!
"Bonding," Yeah Right
Harry hadn't gotten anymore sleep after speaking with Mr. Malfoy and instead laid in bed thinking over the rules the Lestrange brothers had pounded into him for the past two days. A number of them seemed extra ridiculous but a few made sense…for some people he guessed. Either way, it got him to a reasonable time to get up and he took a shower. The bathroom was ridiculously luxurious compared to what he was used to and he took full advantage of it while he could.
He had just finished pulling his shirt on, as always averting his eyes from the scars he could see in the mirror, when there was a knock at his door.
"Breakfast, Harry. Wake up!" The cheery voice of Rodolphus was almost enough to make Harry smile, but he was too tired and preoccupied to do so. He shuffled towards the door and opened it to reveal two smiling brothers. Harry rolled his eyes.
"How are you two morning people?" Rabastan huffed as all three walked down the corridor, Nagini slithering by Harry's feet.
"You'd probably be more happy in the morning too if you didn't spend your nights wandering around the Manor and actually slept." Harry paused, fear spiking his heart rate, and expected at least being yelled at if not hexed for 'trying to escape.' Instead, he had a brother loop an arm through each of his and get him moving again.
"We just heard Lucius explaining to our Lord why you already have your special necklace. No one's mad at you, Harry." Harry didn't quite believe that but didn't say anything. Someone was always mad at Harry, no matter what he did. He'd learned that early in his life and holding that thought in the back of his mind usually kept him safe.
When they entered the dining room, both Lord Malfoy and Draco were present along with Severus. Harry took what had become his usual seat, the one to the Dark Lord's right, and ignored the Potions Master across from him. He was pleased to see a lot of fruit on the table, some of which he didn't recognize, and began filling his plate. When his plate was almost full, he heard Voldemort's voice echo in his head:
"Protein is important for growing boys. I won't have you becoming a vegetarian on me. At least have some eggs." Harry scowled and rolled his eyes, but did as bid, filling the last open space on his plate with scrambled eggs. He never noticed the curious gaze of Severus Snape, a man still surprised by something as simple as the boy's eating habits. A few moments later, the Dark Lord actually entered the room and took the seat at the head of the table.
The man smirked smugly upon seeing the boy's plate. Harry scowled at him.
"Stay out of my head. You know I hate it when you do that." Voldemort didn't stop smiling.
"Of course I do. Why do you think I keep doing it?" With that, everyone turned to the food before them. Occasionally the comfortable quiet was broken by Voldemort checking in with his follower's projects. When everyone responded with positive news, Tom was reminded why he had chosen these specific wizards for his Inner Circle.
At the end of the meal, Voldemort turned his attention on Harry.
"You will have lessons with Lucius today. Sometimes your lessons will overlap with what Severus will be teaching you, but not today. Also," the Dark Lord handed Harry a copy of the Daily Prophet. "Think of this as a Good Faith Present." Harry stared, astounded at the front page news. The others at the table were watching the boy's reaction, since all of them knew what their Lord had done the night before.
Harry's jaw dropped, and his hands started to shake. He couldn't believe his eyes and even read through the article twice to be sure he had read it correctly.
"Is this…this is real?" Tom seemed rather pleased with himself as he nodded.
"It is. Pettigrew is dead and I have no doubt your godfather will be contacted soon with the sincerest apologies of the Ministry." After a few more moments of silence, Tom raised a brow, his smile falling. "Well? Nothing to say?" Harry kept staring at the paper.
"I…anything I say would just encourage this kind of behavior wouldn't it?" Harry's voice sounded rather faint, and Voldemort scowled.
"I am not a dog, and I can assure you, you don't have that much power over me." Harry did not react with the appropriate fear that Voldemort expected, and his quiet was starting to worry everyone at the table. Suddenly, the Gryffindor dropped the paper on the table and rushed from the room.
The Lestrange brothers stood to follow, but Tom called them back. They reluctantly followed their Lord's instruction and sat back down. Instead, Voldemort turned to a certain Potions Master.
"Severus, this would be the perfect time to start…bonding." Snape looked like he had just sucked on a lemon, but nodded and left the room. Nagini slid up to rest her head on Tom's lap.
"Will Young One be alright, Tom?" Voldemort stroked her head as he watched his Potions Master slowly walk away.
"He needs to work through some emotions and it would be good for Severus to help him with that." Nagini was not completely convinced that this really was a good idea, but she stayed where she was.
Snape found the boy…his son, conveniently in the room Lucius was going to start teaching him. Harry was pacing back and forth and running his fingers through his hair and tugging. Severus suddenly felt a sense of deja vu and recalled a time when Lily- No. He would not allow himself to be swept up in memories.
As Severus opened his mouth to address the young man, his friend's voice echoed in his head. They had been talking over the last couple of days about how he could…be more open to the boy. Snape took a deep breath and prepared himself.
"Harry," he said through clenched teeth. The boy stopped sharply and turned to glare at him.
"What are you doing here?" Snape's eye twitched in irritation.
"Clearly the magical behavioral manipulation our Lord put an end to didn't get rid of your cheek and disrespect." Harry huffed and rolled his eyes.
"What are you doing here, Sir? Does Tom think we should bond or something?" If Snape was surprised by the boy's insight he didn't show it. Then again, the link between Potter and the Dark Lord went both ways as far as he knew.
"Something of that sort." Snape sighed and sat down. He had been up late into the night and early morning brewing potions. He was tired. "One would think you would be more…happy to hear that the man who betrayed your mother and James Potter was dead and that, that wretched god-mutt of yours is free." Harry growled and tugged on his hair again.
"I am…that's the problem." Snape's face clearly said how idiotic he thought Harry sounded at that moment.
"Explain." Harry huffed again and practically fell down into the chair across from the Potions Master.
"I'm…I'm happy a man is dead. Isn't that…I don't know, bad!?" Before Severus could think of anything to say, Harry continued. "All through the school year, I thought I was going insane. I was so angry all of the time and I kept having visions where I was killing someone and happy about it. I thought…I thought I was turning into Voldemort. I was terrified. Now, the anger is mostly gone…at least, it feels more like my own anger and not some out of control rage. But now I'm feeling what is actually me and not some spell you all say Dumbledore cast on me and…and I'm happy that Peter Pettigrew is dead." Rant done, Harry only then realized that he was breathing heavily.
Severus sat quiet for a few moments, unsure what to say, but when it became clear that the boy was devolving into a panic attack, he acted. Snape stepped forward and kneeled in front of the young man's chair. After a moment's hesitation, he reached up and grasped the boy's shoulders tightly.
"You need to calm down. Slow your breathing. No. You just quickened it- Calm down! Harry!" Hearing his first name shouted by his hated Potions Professor shocked Harry enough that he stopped breathing for a second. It automatically dropped him out of his haze and he was able to gain control of his breathing once more. The room became quiet as he calmed down and then they both realized the positions they were in: Snape kneeling in front of him grasping his shoulders and Harry leaning forward and having a fistful of the grown wizard's shirt.
Both sprung apart and wouldn't look at each other. Severus turned as if he was perusing the books in the room.
"Does this…happen often? Panic attacks?" Harry was wary of discussing such a topic with the man, fearing he would use it to taunt him in the future. However, he also knew the man could find out whether Harry told him or not.
"I…they used to happen pretty often…before I started going to Hogwarts. This was..my, well actually second one, since then." Snape raised a brow.
"Second? And when was the first?" If Harry wasn't feeling uncomfortable before, he certainly was now. As a defense mechanism, he lashed out.
"Oh what do you care? You've done your job. We've talked about why I left breakfast without thanking Voldemort." Severus felt his automatic response kick in before he could stop himself. He sneered at the young man.
"How could I forget? Mr. Potter controls when all conversations start and end. Perhaps this is why your grades are abysmal. You prefer to leave jobs half done. Just like your-" Severus stopped when he realized that he couldn't use his favorite insult anymore. Harry glared at the Head of Slytherin House and clenched his fists.
"Can't say it can you? You'd be insulting yourself, wouldn't you? You know, for all the times you accused me of doing something horrible 'just like my father,' they seemed to apply to you: being a bully, craving attention, picking fights. Your dramatic entrances and exits see to the second one. The other two are even more obvious, seeing as you started bullying an eleven year old as soon as you met him!" Severus stood and he loomed over Harry with a menacing glare.
"Enough."
"I say, I must agree," drawled a cold voice by the door. Father and son turned to see Lucius Malfoy standing in the doorway with one unimpressed eyebrow raised. Harry, anger rushed back down into his chest and feeling quite chastised, he looked at the ground with blood turning his cheeks red in embarrassment. Severus would never show such a thing so blatantly, but he felt much the same way. "If you two are quite finished, I would like to start my lessons." Snape nodded and left without another word.
Harry continued to sit and glared at the floor as Lucius Malfoy approached. The older wizard did not speak for a few moments.
"I take it my advice from last night is not to be heeded." Harry huffed and rolled his eyes.
"That wasn't him reaching out. That was him following orders." Lucius raised his usual unimpressed brow at the boy.
"I understand that teenagers are prone to attitude and disrespect, but such things will not be tolerated during our lessons. If they come out, I have a number of approved punishments lined up such as writing lines." Lucius did not understand the way his pupil suddenly tensed and clenched his hands into hard fists at the mere mention of lines but dismissed it quickly. Detentions were the bane of students everywhere and associated punishments were quickly hated. Given how often the young man was in detention, according to both Severus and his son, surely Harry was well familiar with the punishment.
The Malfoy Lord would have sighed dramatically if it wouldn't have been unbecoming of him. He could clearly see his student pulling into himself and shutting down. This boy was the son of his best friend and had been there for his son even though they considered each other school yard nemesis. Needless to say, Lucius wanted to get to know the young man, not just do his duty.
"With that said…" Lucius waited until the boy actually looked up and met his eyes. "I want you to ask questions. Don't just sit there and stare dully at me. Engage. Question. Debate me if you so wish. In fact, I think it would be a fantastic use of our time to debate over certain topics. Our first few lessons will focus primarily on a much more honest version of Dark Arts history, and starting next week we'll begin adding Defense. Severus's dueling sessions will help you put the spells you will learn into practice. Now…" Lucius sat down across from his pupil and leaned forward. "I want you to tell me what you know about the Dark Arts. What have people told you? How do you believe it began? I know this past year your education was severely lacking thanks to a certain pink Ministry monstrosity, but you must know something."
Harry was quiet for a few moments. He seemed to come to the conclusion that Lucius really did want to hear what he had to say and finally answered.
"All…all I ever learned was that the Dark Arts are illegal and the witches and wizards who use them do so to hurt and kill other people. They…they're evil and everyone on your side of the war uses them. Voldemort used them to kill my parents and Bellatrix Lestrange used the Dark Arts to torture Neville Longbottom's parents." Lucius wasn't surprised in the slightest. In fact it was all that he had expected to hear, and he told the boy as much.
"Before I begin explaining the politics of the war and how all of this began, there are some core concepts you need to know. The first and foremost concept you need to understand is that magic is not Dark or Light. It just is..."
So we've started getting into the attempted reconciliation (you saw how well that went) and talks about Dark vs Light and more fun philosophy stuff that I am sure will spark some fun debates. Please keep in mind this is a work of fiction, and it is just for fun.
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