Chapter Ten The Sorting

Snape left them at the foot of the stairs at the front entrance and made his way around the house to the back garden. With uncanny stealth, he wove his way through statues and large fountains, their bowls dry and filled with leaves, and across to the area opposite the kitchen windows. He stood for a moment staring at the crucified man who hung on the cross bows of an old tree and watched for signs of life.

His injured wand hand twitched with the need to vent his anger. The Potter boy had done it once again. Somehow he always managed to target the emotion that Snape struggled to control.

Pettigrew rolled slightly from right to left, more like a hangman swaying from his noose.

"Shall we kill you now or let you live," Snape asked the man. "He would never know." Snape was referring to Harry and also not necessarily talking to the man swinging above him. With a grunt, he climbed the small steps and using his wand untangled the body from the branches of the encroaching tree and let Pettigrew drop, unceremoniously and rather hard, onto the ground.

He stooped over enough to detect the motion of the man's chest moving up and down and then waved his wand over him again and levitated him off the ground. Snape loathed the man and it was all he could do not to put an end to him and rid himself of the bother. He took no time in repairing the wounds that the birds had wrought and thought it rather satisfying to see that the silver hand was gone and that the birds had pecked out both eyes.

As he moved him through the fog, Snape thought of Potter. The scene in the kitchen was uncomfortable and served to rile him but he realized that the boy was acting differently, and had been since they met at the Riddle Mansion.

Snape knew that he had twisted the truth on purpose as he always had with almost everyone. He had lied... about some issues. He didn't expect Harry to believe him anyway and if he did, it was to the good as far as Snape was concerned. If Potter was truly the Chosen One then he needed to keep a watch on him. What better way then to remain in his company. Better yet, he thought, They have Lucius and he will be of some help if I can get him to talk. Horcruxes! He shuddered involuntarily. The Dark Lord will be almost impossible to kill. And he has mother with him.

Ever one to be a survivor, Snape was not enjoying the company he was keeping but he also knew that it was the best place for him to be. He needed to find out what Potter knew or had been told by Dumbledore, what had happened to Draco and to discover Voldemort's plans. There was nothing to be done until he knew more about the Horcruxes.

He maneuvered the body around the corner and picked up the voices, talking in low tones. He stopped and held his breath to listen.

"Harry, are you coming to Hogwarts through the cabinets," Hermione asked.

"No. I think that when the time comes, we'll use that for special purpose," Harry answered. "I don't think the Dark Lord will think we will cross country on foot or use the floo network or even brooms. He'll know that we'll apparate and that we can't be tracked. I think he's probably had us followed here, maybe by Pettigrew, and maybe by others who aren't making themselves known. But I don't take it for granted anymore that he's lost me altogether."

"Why do you say that?" Hermione asked.

"I think he was looking for something and he wanted me to do the work of finding it." Harry answered. "We'll be in more danger as soon as we leave here then we were when we arrived. I told you the last time I saw you that I wouldn't just wander into Godric's Hollow like a tourist. And I didn't. I do have a plan."

Remus said something and Snape moved closer watching where he stepped so that no twig cracked underfoot.

"If I were him I would want to go back to the place I thought of as home," Harry answered.

"But we've already checked the orphanage, Harry," Hermione argued. "The place is a shell of a house, boarded up and empty for years."

"I don't think he ever thought of that place as home, Hermione," Harry turned in Snape's direction as if wondering why it was taking him so long. Snape stepped back into the shadows and moved Pettigrew's body to the ground under a tree. "Remember, we are alike in many ways. We are both orphans... well there are similarities and more of them since he possessed me. Dumbledore thought that he transferred a lot of his powers and his memories to me when he tried to kill me. I've started to connect with that. Don't laugh Hermione but it feels like I'm channeling his energy sometimes. Anyway, I think that he will want to go back to Hogwarts. Possessing it or conquering it, however you want to say it, would be important to him, I think."

The girl didn't laugh. She stared at her friend with a look of slight disgust on her face. "That must be an awful feeling?" she managed. "Well we will have to double the guard." She shook her mane of hair. "Never mind about that."

"We are out in the open and it is dangerous to talk about these things here," Remus said quietly. "Let's check on Snape and move out of here. I need to know where you'll end up. Hermione will know because of the initiation incantation but it would be wise if I also knew." Remus raised both hands in a sign of surrender when he saw Harry's expression. "I know, I know. She told me you wouldn't like it, but you can be as hard headed as your father was. And I wanted a way to track you if you got into trouble."

Harry nodded and said, "It's alright. I'm going to rely on Snape to get us out of the immediate vicinity. He's rather good at that kind of thing I would think. We'll end up in the place I first saw Sirius." He looked pointedly at both of them and they both nodded.

"All right," Remus said. " I'll be at headquarters. Let me know what, if anything, you get from Malfoy. Or if you need help in doing it. You might not want to let McGonagall know what you're about, if you take my meaning."

Hermione nodded and gave him a hug and Harry shook his hand.

"Don't trust Snape completely, Harry," Remus said. "I need to check into this Horcrux thing and learn more about them. I can't imagine! Seven!" He shook his head and then, vanished.

Snape sniffed loudly and moved through the fog towards them. The girl gasped at the sight of Pettigrew's face as he maneuvered the prone man's body through the swirling mist and fog.. Snape watched Harry closely. The boy didn't flinch or try to help the man.

Good, Snape thought, Maybe he is learning something.

"Hermione you need to leave, too," Harry said taking her by the arm and ushering her away from the suspended body. "Make sure Lucius is still there. I'll come through the tunnel under the Whomping Willow tonight."

"Miss Granger if you expect to learn anything from Lucius Malfoy it would behoove you to try and make the Veritaserum potion," Snape remarked easily as he watched them.

The girl glared briefly and reached inside her traveling cloak and removed a vial. She stepped over and handed it to him. He knew without giving it more than a glance that it was clear and of good quality. Her abilities had always surprised him. She had few natural magical gifts, he reflected, however, she was diligent. He bowed slightly and handed it back to her without speaking. Snape knew that he was neither in the enemy's camp or a friend's.

She turned and stepped back to Harry, glancing once at Snape as she kissed the boy on the cheek. "I'll take Draco with me to Hogwarts."

"Can you do side-along apparition?" Harry asked.

She stepped to Draco's side and turned with her arm on his to vanish and leave only the three of them.

"Perhaps it is not wise to reveal your plans by speaking them aloud in such a place as this," Snape murmured.

Harry looked at him, ignoring the body that floated before them and the remark. "Do you have a good idea how we can escape this valley undetected?" he asked in such a soft voice that was even below a whisper; his lips did not move.

Snape nodded, unsure about who was playing who. The look in the boy's eyes told him stories. Ah, so you know that you are being overheard, Snape thought. Trying to draw the Dark Lord to you? he wondered and narrowed his eyes.

Harry stood for a moment and then said, still in a low voice, "Snape did you ever learn about the entire prophecy?"

Severus felt his breath catch and he waited without answering.

He saw the boy take his silence as a no. In truth Severus had never heard the whole prophecy. Dumbledore had never told him even though he had tried to question him about it. The old wizard had been very evasive. The next question surprised him even more.

"Did you know that when the Sorting Hat was trying to sort me the first night I went to Hogwarts; it tried to put me in Slytherin House," Harry said it with his hand pressed against his chest.

Snape frowned and remained silent, wondering what the catch was; what the boy was doing..

"Do you feel that you are truly a Slytherin? That the Sorting Hat didn't make a mistake when it sorted you?" he asked.

Snape studied the area around them and said as quietly as he could, "These are a child's questions. I am not a student at Hogwarts anymore and neither are you." Harry turned and looked at him with such a sober, somber look that he gritted his teeth and answered. "Yes, if you must know. I feel that it is in my blood."

In truth, staring into that face, that horribly familiar face- a Potter face- Snape remembered the night of his own sorting with such clarity, a bitter cry had almost escaped his lips.

He remembered arriving on the Hogwarts Express and the stormy night . He had never known how to make friends, how to approach the others and so, was standing on the platform alone until Hagrid had rounded them up and placed them in boats. Severus had looked with wonder at the castle that peeked out from angry black skies, looked at it with hope and longing. His mother was already there and they were going to have a different life. He'd left his horrible father and he needed something that would lift him out of the depression he felt. His heart ached for it.

He entered the doors of the Main hall along with the other first years. He was not the only one to notice the dark haired boy with glasses and the one that stood next to him. They were chatting with a boy of sandy colored hair and gray eyes and they were laughing. Severus watched them with a mixture of jealousy and wistfulness. He wanted to be a part of the small group. He also knew that the way he looked, the way he dressed, his own bashfulness always made him stand out in every crowd he'd ever been in. He hated it; he hated himself.

It was when the eyes turned to him, the smile remaining there that he felt his heart harden. He waited. The boy and his new friends were going to treat him badly. It always happened that way and he steadied himself and waited for it. He looked back into the eyes. Was there pity there? Hatred, disgust? No, not that. What? Severus stepped back and behind a girl in front of him. The eyes turned away.

The class made their way to the front of the hall and each took turns stepping to the three legged stool. When Severus took his seat he could feel his mother's eyes upon him. She had been in Ravenclaw. But since they had known the man named Riddle, she had said more than once that she would feel shame if he was not placed in Slytherin. The boy, James Potter and his friend Sirius Black stared at him as the hat was placed on his head.

The hat spoke to him. "Yes, yes. Many good qualities that need to be nurtured here. It seems to me Gryffindor is the place that you should be."

"No, no!" Severus hissed. "It can't be. She'll hate me; she'll make my life miserable. It has to be Slytherin."

"Ah, such a waste, but Slytherin it shall be." The hat spoke the name aloud and Snape slipped from the chair. Still staring back at James Potter, he moved to the Slytherin table and finally turned to look into his mother's eyes. The words that played over and over in his mind as he sat there was, 'I hate you mother, I hate you'.

Snape felt the bile rising in his throat once again. He wanted to scream. There was no trace of his emotions written on his face.

Harry nodded and seemed to relax. "Good, good. Now, we need to leave." His head dropped and Snape prepared to take Pettigrew and apparate when the head came up again. "My friends and others... as soon as the Dark Lord finds the objects he's looking for, people will start dying."

Severus heard the question even though it was phrased as a statement. He answered. "Yes, and she will be among the first." He nodded towards the place where Hermione had disapparated. He did not do it to be cruel.

Harry nodded. "So we will know that he has found them all when the bloodshed begins," he continued without waiting for a response, "One other thing."

Snape was feeling the fog closing in and creatures stirring and moving closer. "Be quick about it, Potter."

"If I order you to do something, will you take my orders?" Harry said it, not as a student or a child, but as a man to another man.

Snape considered the question and then nodded once.