Disclaimer in Chapter 1
Authors Note: So here it is, the much anticipated, long promised, "Fun with Snape" chapter. Isn't that kind of an oxymoron? Fun and, well, Snape? Hehehe…Anyway, while my companion recovers from her Snape-induced euphoria, I will allow you to enter yours. …Enjoy.
Chapter 10: Revelations
Harry had all but forgotten about his encounter with the nasty potion's master when he went to breakfast the next day. He absently noted that his scar tingled slightly from the previous night's dreams. He hadn't successfully cleared his mind of all of the thoughts about Sirius and his parents as he lay in bed.
Harry knew that if he told Ron and Hermione, their first response would be to abduct him and take him to Dumbledore, so he resolutely ignored the twinge that reminded him constantly that though he was safe for the time being, his sanctuary would not last indefinitely.
After they had finished their eggs and sausages they sat at their table chatting about the upcoming trip to Hogsmeade.
"I can't wait to see Weasley Wizarding Wheezes!" Harry said excitedly.
"I know, Fred and George said they'd even give me a discount!" Ron spouted.
"Hey Harry." Harry turned to see who was addressing him.
"Oh, hi Lubode."
"So, guess you got detention too. Snape can be really horrible sometimes."
Hermione practically leapt out of her seat. "Harry you got detention?...Lubode you hate Snape?" Ron looked at the Slytherin wide eyed.
"Well no, I don't hate him. He's actually a brilliant wizard and I'm dead glad he's my head of house, but he does sort of have it out for Harry doesn't he?"
"So, what'd you get detention for Harry?" Ron asked, clearly impressed that Lubode would admit Snape's prejudices, even though he thought the word "brilliant" wasn't quite fitting, and Snape's name didn't belong in the same sentence as glad, dead maybe, but defiantly not glad.
Lubode took the empty seat next to Hermione as Harry began to explain. "Well, I got back really late last night and Snape caught me out past curfew. Since I didn't want to explain everything to him, I told him I was in the astronomy tower and he gave me detention."
"Wait, you were lying? I've never seen anyone lie like that to Snape before, I never would have guessed you weren't telling the truth. If you weren't really in the astronomy tower, where were you?" asked Lubode, drawn between being confused and impressed.
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, preparing themselves to change the topic if their friend needed them to. They knew that the subject of Harry's parents was one that he rarely discussed with anyone, the reason they weren't surprised at all that Harry took detention over explaining himself to Snape. They were surprised when Harry answered truthfully.
"Well, you see, my parents died on Halloween fifteen years ago. Professor Lupin, from our third year, was good friends with my dad and he offered to take me see their graves. I never got a chance before now and I was late coming back."
Lubode was rendered speechless. His jaw was open slightly and his eyes looked at Harry as if seeing him for the first time.
When he finally regained his composure he asked, "Why didn't you tell that to Professor Snape? Surely you wouldn't get detention if he knew the real reason you were out last night."
"Well actually there are a lot of different reasons. First and most importantly, is that it's private. I don't really like to talk about my personal life with just anyone, I really only tell my friends. Secondly, Snape hated my dad, and I really wasn't in the mood to have him make scathing remarks about him." The explanation had come out harsher than Harry had intended, but the subject of Snape and his dad was still something that pained him to think about.
"Well, how did everything go?" Hermione asked.
"It was nice. It actually gave me the opportunity to think about some things that I've been putting off. You know, Sirius' grave is by my parents. I really think that's what he would have wanted."
"Sirius' has a grave? I thought they never found his body." asked Ron.
"They didn't, but Lupin thought he should have a place to be remembered."
"Who's Sirius?"
"Sirius Black was Harry's godfather, he died last June." Hermione explained.
"Oh, I'm really sorry Harry. Um… wasn't he going to kill you or something in our third year?" Lubode asked shyly.
"No, Sirius never committed murder in his life, he was set up. He was always innocent and was never planning on killing me."
"Well Harry, do you want to go to the library and get a head start on our charms essay?" Hermione said with the kind of excitement most students reserved only for Quidditch.
"Sure, I actually started some last night, but I wanted to get in some extra research." Harry answered. Hermione beamed at his diligence while Ron made a gagging motion to Lubode, who nodded and smiled back.
On Wednesday after potions, Harry once again said goodbye to Hermione and went into Snape's office for his least favorite subject. He entered with a look of the condemned awaiting execution. Harry's bi-weekly Occlumency lessons had
Not been going to waste. Though he was not by means able to completely block Snape's intrusions, he now could hide all of his pleasant and thus less traumatizing memories. The unfortunate side effect was that every Monday and Wednesday he left Snape's office only thinking about the very worst moments of his life. Harry knew that Snape was aware of only bringing his most horrible memories to light, and was convinced that the dark potions master took some sadistic pleasure in it.
Harry had been seated in his usual place for several minutes when Professor Snape finally strode in. He drew his wand before leaning over the desk and staring into the bright green eyes of the patiently waiting Gryffindor.
"Legilimens!"
Harry was bombarded with images of memories he was now used to seeing- visions of Cedric and Sirius- Pictures which through their repeated viewing grew more, rather than less, horrible. No matter how many times Harry saw Sirius's limp body fall through the veil, it never got any less painful.
After several attacks on his consciousness, Harry took a deep breath, and tried to clear his mind; he stared at Snape. He knew if he managed to ward of the presence of the potions master, this would be the last try for the evening.
"Ready Potter?" Snape said indifferently- showing Harry that the images of Sirius's death didn't bother the elder wizard as they did the younger. Harry gave a small nod and braced his mind against the coming onslaught.
"Legilimens!"
Harry's defenses held for a few seconds, but eventually fell, revealing his open mind to Severus Snape. The memory that presented itself this time was not a member of Harry's usual repertoire.
He saw a boy, very similar to himself in looks, with his wand raised effortlessly. The boy was laughing and clapping another young man on the back. He, too, was in fits of laughter. His wand was pointing to a spot five feet above the ground where a third boy, black clad and greasy haired, hung helplessly. Harry instantly recognized the scene as the one that he seen the previous year in Snape's pensieve.
Harry felt the potion master hastily retreat from his mind. When he regained his bearings, he was looking apprehensively into the face of a Snape who no longer attempted to conceal his emotions. The next few seconds were spent in a dense silence. Finally, Snape spoke.
"Potter…explain yourself," his voice was a mixture of rage and confusion.
"Sir, you knew that I saw it…I-I'm… I'm sorry." Harry finished weakly. He felt the need to apologize to Snape. As far as Harry was concerned, that memory should not even be in his mind at all.
"Yes." Snape spat. "But why is it coming to light now?" With every word that Snape spoke his voice grew angrier, as if he was clenching his teeth so hard he could barely form the words.
"I, I don't understand…" Harry said. He wanted nothing more than to stand up and leave the presence of the man in front of him, but he was glued to his seat by Snape's piercing stare.
"Your memories, Potter," Snape spat with the utmost loathing and contempt, "that is, if you are doing your Occlumency properly, should be only your worst and most traumatic at this point." Snape acted as though Harry had recalled the memory from his most valued, simply to spite the professor.
"Those are my worst memories."
Snape scowled darkly at the words.
"Do you honestly think," Harry began coldly. "That that's the picture I want of my father?" He took a deep breath and began again in a quiet but harsh tone. "I can't understand that anybody would act that way, you of all people… you've seen what my life's like with, with them. My father…my father," Harry's voice softened into a tone that sounded like a child whose dreams have been crushed. "He acted like…" Then he turned his head away and spat the next words out, "Dudley. Like my horrible cousin Dudley, tormenting people for sick pleasure." He turned again towards the silent and venomous potions master. "All my life I always knew that my parents were better than that. That's how I survived with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, because I knew that my own father would never treat someone like that, than I find out that he could be just as horrible as they were… and you think I enjoy thinking about that? That that's one of my better memories? You think that after all this time I liked finding out that you were right about my dad all along?" Harry ran out of energy and returned to his seat never taking his icy green eyes away from the black one's belonging to Severus Snape.
"Potter," Snape began, no longer acting as though, at any moment, he might decide to perform an unforgivable curse on Harry.
"We will not discuss this again. I will see you on Friday for your detention." Snape looked like all of his energy had been siphoned from his body, like it was taking every ounce of his strength to hold himself upright in his chair.
"Professor…"
"Good day, Mr. Potter."
Harry stood up, and left the room, not sure if his tirade had lifted a burden from his mind or weighted him down even more.
Two days later Harry found himself walking once again to the dungeons. He had left early so that he could take his time getting there and not be late- being late for detention with Snape was like volunteering to take care of three Blasted-ended Skrewts and a dragon for fun. He was nearing the corner by Dumbledore's office and was caught up in his thoughts of the last DA meeting. He was happy with their progress but yesterday's lesson had been near disastrous.
Harry had read about a curse that immobilizes the use of a wizard's wand hand, making it impossible to use in a duel. He had practiced with Ron and had found that the curse wasn't really that complicated, in fact he had it mastered after only a few tries. However, when he introduced to the class some quite unexpected side effects occurred.
Many of the members preformed the curse incorrectly and consequently their partner's entire hand fell off. He had to take them Madame Pomfrey and explain the situation to her. She had then given him a three hour lecture on the importance of teaching within student's limits and being 'foolish' with his lessons. He had adamantly apologized and helped her care for her patients in atonement.
Harry was snapped back to reality when he heard two familiar voices. Staying hidden around the corner, he could see Lupin and Snape coming out of Dumbledore's office. Harry knew that they were both their on Order business, as all year Order members had been in out of the Headmaster's office receiving instructions and delivering information. Now that the ministry had proven their supreme incompetence and complete inability to deal with the presence of the Dark Lord, Dumbledore was able to run some of the Order business from Hogwarts- though more important matters were brought to the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters for the safety of the students.
"We'll discuss this business later, Lupin. As it is, I must be off to oversee detention with Potter." Harry heard Snape say.
"Harry? What did he do to warrant detention?"
"I caught him out past curfew on Halloween, once again showing his blatant disregard for school policy." Snape said nonchalantly
Harry silently prayed that Lupin wouldn't tell Snape why he had been out past curfew.
Lupin chuckled pleasantly and said, "You never cease to amaze me, Severus. I don't think I've ever met a man with a heart quite as cold and black as yours." He smiled and shook his head, continuing in a kindly voice, "Only you would give a boy detention for visiting his parent's graves." Lupin clapped a tense Snape on the shoulder and smiled once more, walking away down the hall, chuckling to himself all the while.
Harry shook his head, astounded that his horrible luck never seemed to fail him. After going to such great lengths to keep Snape from the truth, he had found out anyway. Worse even than that, he knew that Harry didn't want him to know, which proved that the visit had been very important to Harry. Somehow Harry knew that this detention would be far worse than all the others he had ever had with Snape and that was quite an extensive collection. After pondering his predicament for several long seconds, he became determined that he would not allow Snape get to him…regardless of how he was treated.
Harry hurried to the potion's classroom and arrived after Snape, but still five minutes early.
"Since you seem to show since a blatant disregard for every rule, I've decided that your punishment shall be to atone for every rule that has been broken since the beginning of the year in my classroom."
Snape then waved his wand and a list appeared that stretched from the ceiling and scrolled all way the down to the floor and curled at the bottom, written on the list in Snape's miniscule handwriting were hundreds upon hundreds of rules that Harry had never heard of, never even fathomed them to be worthy of being rules. Yet here they were, along with tallies next to each one counting how many times the rule was broken.
Harry noticed that at the top of the list were some of the most ridiculous policies he had ever heard of: ranging from no burning holes in cauldrons, to no leaving potion rings on the desks. Several hundred included different ingredients that were forbidden to be combined. Apparently wrong answers to questions were not allowed under any circumstances. At the bottom Harry noticed several that must have been added in the last six years, "no helping Longbottom with his potions," and "no asking Granger for help." If he wasn't dreading the task ahead of him, he might have had to fight laughter.
All in all, in only the two months they had been at Hogwarts that year, thousands of offenses had been committed. Harry was almost relieved that he was caught now rather than May when the tallies for asking for help from Hermione alone would have been in the hundreds range.
"Sir, how am I supposed to be punished for all of these? I don't think I could live long enough to fulfill all of the requirements."
"Where messes have been made Potter, you will clean them, where potions have been contaminated you will re-brew them them, for every homework assignment that has been copied by at least by one student, you will redo it." Harry could see the potions master was taking pleasure in his punishment, but Harry had already resolved to not let Snape get to him and he was fully determined to continue with his plan.
"Where should I begin professor?"
With a nonchalant wave of his wand, a bucket of soapy water appeared along with a rag. "Start scrubbing, Mr. Potter."
Harry set to work scrubbing first the desk and then the floor. When he was finally finished, his arm ached from the repetitive motion, but the dungeon sparkled as well as it could.
"I'm finished, professor. What would you like me to do now," Harry asked sounding deceptively cheerful.
Snape barely looked up from the papers he was grading, when he flicked his wand again and dozens of potions flew off of the shelves and onto the freshly cleaned desks.
"Many of these potions only have a drop of the wrong ingredient, and some were stirred improperly. You will re-brew each one, to the best of your limited ability, the labels on the potions are correct. Begin."
Harry paid strict attention to the potions he was making, being sure not to make any of them incorrectly; he wanted to avoid providing Snape with ammunition to fuel future ridicule. Some of the potions were quite difficult, however, including material that Harry hadn't even learned yet, Snape must have know that with these, he was likely to fail. However, several hours later he finished the last potion and placed it in its correct location on the shelf. Snape was very particular about his potions, and Harry knew that had he placed them out of order to begin with, it would only be another job for him to do later.
"I'm finished professor." Harry said.
Snape was now referring to many different potions' books, apparently conducting some very in-depth research.
"Well, Mr. Potter, it appears that you have just broken rule number 256- no spilling potion ingredients on the desks. I suggest that you clean up your area."
Harry closed his eyes and drew a long breath. It was just like Snape to have him clean the desks, simply to have him mess them up again and force him redo his hard work. Still he managed to control his temper and used his fury to scrub the new grim from the desks. After a few minutes, Snape walked over and observed Harry's cleaning, as he watched his right hand, Snape noticed the white scars that were still etched on its back. Upon looking closer he could see what they spelled out.
"Mr. Potter, may I ask what masochistic mind set possessed you to carve 'I must not tell lies' on the back of your hand?" Snape asked, with a raised eyebrow.
Harry instinctively hid his hand, thrusting into the bucket of soapy water. "It's nothing," he said quickly, averting his eyes.
Snape raised his other eyebrow at Harry's response to his inquiry. "You will tell me how that came to be on your hand," he said sternly, casting his infamous stare directly upon an embarrassed Harry.
Harry shifted comfortably, struggling to come up with an excuse for the scars on his skin. "Well…um, you see, professor."
"Explanation, Potter, now."
"It was Umbridge." Harry muttered, softly but distinctly so that he wouldn't have to repeat himself.
"Dolores Umbridge? That woman is even more abysmally dim than you are, Potter, how on earth did she manage to carve that into your hand?" he replied almost skeptically.
"I got detention with her a lot last year, especially in the beginning, for claiming that Voldemort was back and that he killed Cedric. I wasn't going to let her dishonor Cedric by letting her act like he messed up, or it was accident. He was murdered, and it's wrong to pretend that he wasn't just because Fudge couldn't accept the truth. Since she claimed I was lying she made me do lines, with a quill that etched the words in my hand."
"Why did you not inform the headmaster of this at once?" Snape inquired, only one step away from accusing Harry of committing the greater crime than Umbridge.
"The headmaster had enough to deal with without having my stupid problems too." Harry spat. "It was nothing I couldn't handle."
"Yes, I can see how you handled it Potter. You allowed someone of lesser intellect to bully and damage you. You refused to ask for help and thus proved your own weakness. As strong as you may think you are, Potter, you have a great deal to learn about what it takes to win the battle. Had you requested help, Umbridge may have been exposed for the villain she was and many of last year's …unfortunate events may have been avoided."
Harry was stunned by Snape's monologue. Snape was doing no more or less than providing Harry with one more way that he could have saved Sirius. He was even more stunned when he replayed the speech in his head and found that though deeply hidden, it had contained a compliment. Snape had called Harry intelligent. That alone was reason enough for Harry's speechlessness.
"Now, you will return to work." Snape swished his wand toward his desk and flicked it to the table in front of Harry. "All the homework assignments that have been copied this year, Mr. Potter: you will redo each and every one of them." In a few strides he was back at his desk, silently pouring over his notes.
The sun was coming up when Harry finally found himself trudging out of the dungeons. He absently noted that he wouldn't even have time to return to the common room before the morning's Quidditch practice. As he left the castle and headed toward the pitch, he summoned all of his strength and energy
"Accio Firebolt! Accio Quidditch uniform!" while he waited for his equipment to reach him, he spent a few moments in contemplation of the night before. Snape had never, not even once, let on to the fact that he knew about Harry's lie regarding his whereabouts when the detention was given. It made Harry wonder just how many other things Severus Snape knew without ever letting on.
Authors Note: Well I hope that was worth the wait, and if it wasn't, don't worry, there'll be more. ::smirks:: ah to only be Snape's cauldron cleaner, that Harry is a lucky boy. Yours is a sad, sad, life. Oh, and we did have one thing to respond to, it was regarding the length of our story. We aren't sure how long it'll be. I suppose, when we finish saying what we have to say, we'll be finished. Um, yeah. Anyway… we have an outline of the story, but do not know the number of chapters or anything, though you're right, it'll end up being fairly long. So, reviews, anyone? Um, yes please… Severus worked hard in this chapter; give him a bit of encouragement to come back again…he can get a bit angry, we wouldn't want him to go on strike or anything. Only a Slytherin would threaten the readers with a character strike… jeeze.