Notes:: Sorry!!! In case you hadn't noticed by now...I'm not very apt to
post on weekends, they're the most chaotic part of the week for me, and
writing is nigh impossible. Therefore, this chapter's a bit short....but I
/guarantee/ there will be another chapt. tomorrow. In fact, I'm only
posting this now because I got a rather desperate email...::*cough*
Mayleesa *cough* anyway, next chapter will be more meaty, I promise!
Thanks:: To everybody taht reviewed!! I noticed a couple people who said they'd never reviewed anything before (or even read fanfiction!) and I would like to send a special thankyou out to them. I really do appreciate it when you all review, I'll try my very best to stay true to the story and give you all a repreive from the boring, /real/ world!! Thank you soo much!!
A Father's Sin
by Severitus
Chapter 11----The Vision
Dumbledore strolled into the Hospital Wing precisely at seven a.m. the next day, looking only slightly less cheerful than normal. Harry had already changed into his robes, thanks to a house elf that had shown up with them earlier that morning. He was currently sitting atop the bed, book opened before him, when Dumbledore pushed aside the curtain with a smile.
"Hello, Harry. How are you feeling today?" he asked, walking over to stand next to the bed. Harry greeted him with a happy smile and closed the book, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Hello, Professor. Madam Pomfrey's finally letting me go today," he answered, absently reaching up to flick a strand of hair out of his face. Dumbledore stepped closer to the bed and sat down on its edge, turning a serious gaze on Harry.
"Yes, that's why I'm here, as a matter of fact." the old wizard said, "If you are still sure that you want the Glamourie spell replaced, then I will do it for you now." he continued, his blue eyes fixed and unblinking. Harry hopped to the floor and stood before the old wizard, his bare feet smacking lightly on the cold stone. (The elf had forgotten to bring shoes)
"I think it'd be best, at least for now. I don't think I could deal with all the questions just yet....I'm still a little confused about everything myself." he admitted, and Dumbledore nodded in understanding, his eyes drifting to the Serpent's Mark.
"Yes, I'll have to agree with you on that. I imagine it would cause quite a disturbance were you to show up for class today looking completely different." he said, mouth curving into a light smile. He sat up straighter then, and gave Harry a firm pat on the back. "Alright then. I've already sent Madam Pomfrey off, so we might as well get on with it. I must warn you though, it may not be /exactly/ the same as before...I will do my best, but I'm afraid my knowledge of Glamourie is nowhere near that of you mother's."
"That's ok."
"Very well then." Dumbledore replied, and raised his wand toward Harry, the tip hovering above his head. "Persona Veritas!" he said firmly, and there was a brief flash of bluish light. Harry sat perfectly still, watching in amazement as the light slowly traveled across his skin, taking on a mirror-like quality as it quickly spread, then deepened to the shade of flesh and hair. It was over in an instant, and Harry found himself staring at the hands he'd thought his own for the past fifteen years. Dumbledore chuckled as Harry whipped his hands up to his face, feeling the rounder shape of his jaw and nose, checking to make sure that everything was as it should be. Everything appeared to be correct....save for one small thing. His glasses.
"I'm sorry about the glasses, Harry..." Dumbledore began, sensing the boy's confusion, "I'm afraid I don't know how your mother managed to weave the spell to change your eyesight....as it is, I could make you a pair....but the lenses would have to be plain glass unless you'd want everything to be fuzzy." Dumbledore apologized, and Harry shook his head, running a hand back through his now short hair.
"That's alright, Headmaster. I'll just tell everyone I got contacts or something." he replied, smiling lightly. In all honesty, he wouldn't miss the glasses a bit.
"In that case, I do believe you have a few friends down in the breakfast hall, anxiously awaiting your arrival." he said with a bright smile, and Harry smiled in gratitude when Dumbledore held up his other hand, the fingers clutching a pair of shoes.
"Thanks!" Harry exclaimed, quickly claiming the shoes and wasting no time in attaching them to his feet. Dumbledore smiled again and turned toward the door, his face lined with slight worry.
"Harry, I want you to promise me something." he said after a moment, and Harry stood up from the bed, Dumbledore's book clutched to his chest. He nodded slowly, unease creeping into his chest from the odd look on the Headmaster's face. "I want you to promise me that if anything strange happens, anything at all...you'll come to either me or Professor Snape immediately." he said, his eyes clear and focused.
"Of course, Professor. I promise." Harry replied firmly, and Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction.
"Thank you, Harry. I'll see you at breakfast then."
--------
Ron and Hermione were staring rather nervously at their food, anxiously awaiting Harry's arrival from the hospital wing. Most of the school was either in the Great Hall, or had already finished and wandered back to the dorms. They, however, hadn't even touched their food yet.
"Do you suppose Dumbledore changed him back? I mean, there'd be so many questions if he still looked like...you know..." Ron finally said, shattering the silence between the two. Across from him, Hermione looked up from her scrambled eggs, giving him that familiar glare that meant once again she was questioning his brain power.
"Of /course/ Dumbledore will have changed him back. After all he's been through lately, do you honestly think Dumbledore would make Harry face a school full of stares and questions? And not to mention Professor Snape....if it got out that Harry was his son, it'd be really dangerous for him. Imagine what would happen if You-Know-Who found out that one of his supposedly loyal followers was the father of the boy that nearly killed him...." Hermione said, and Ron shivered, casting a sideways glance up at the Head table and Snape's empty seat.
"I see what you mean." he said, suppressing another shiver.
"On the other hand, he /did/ look pretty good..." Hermione added, but Ron cut her off with an abrupt glare.
"Oh, get off it Hermione..." he muttered.
"Morning!" a voice suddenly rang from behind him, and Ron nearly jumped a foot when a familiar figure suddenly sat down in the seat beside him.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, her expression both relieved and confused. "Your glasses are gone..." she added, and Harry shrugged.
"Dumbledore couldn't get the spell exactly as mum had it, but this is fine by me." he replied, thankful that only a few people glanced his way in curiosity.
"How are you? I mean, did you talk to your...um...to..." Ron began, breaking off in uncertainty at the last. Harry nodded, prodded the diced potatoes on his plate with a fork.
"Yeah, he stopped by yesterday night." Harry said a bit reluctantly. He didn't really want to talk about it yet, not until he'd had a chance to truly sort everything out. For one, he was still a bit unsure about Snape's slight change of attitude, and he really wanted a chance to talk to him again before he even dared trying to explain anything to anyone else. It was no mystery that Snape felt guilty for raping his mother, and because of it, felt obligated to take care of her (their) son....but there had to be something else. Thankfully, both Ron and Hermione got the hint, and let the subject drop.
"So....Ready for an hour of Divination, Harry?" Ron asked suddenly, smirking broadly. Harry blanched, cringing slightly back from the table.
"Hell no...." he muttered, "I wonder what form of death and destruction she'll predict for me today...."
"Drowning, perhaps?" Hermione offered innocently.
"Or devoured by blast-ended skrewts?" Ron added.
"Oy, don't even /joke/ about that one, Ron....." he said, though his face lit with a small smile at the memory. "We'd better get going, I don't want my death predicted in front of the entire class again..." he said, and they all rose from their hardly touched breakfasts and headed out of the hall, school bags in hand.
They headed down the long hallway leading further back into the castle, oblivious to the pair of tall, older wizards that strolled far behind them, their gazes fixed intently on the three. Ron and Hermione began to talk about something or other as they walked, but Harry didn't pay attention to what they were saying, couldn't, actually. Something was twitching in the back of his mind, demanding attention, taking precedence over the conversation with it's insistence.
"Harry, you okay?" Ron suddenly asked, and Harry only then noticed that he'd stopped walking, now several feet behind his friends. He looked up suddenly, struggling to clear his fuzzy thoughts.
"Uh...yeah, just distracted I guess." he muttered, and blinked fiercely again. Something was trying to edge in on his vision, some sort of dark image battling to overtake the real world with it's own visage. Harry cried out in surprise when he suddenly felt a sharp pain from his scar, strangely accompanied by an odd tingling directly between his eyes. Sinking slowly down against a nearby wall, he held a hand to his scar, gritting his teeth in an attempt to ward off the pain and whatever was struggling to invade his thoughts. Fear was rising up in his chest as well, accompanied by rampant confusion.
"Harry....I'll get Dumbledore..." Hermione began, but he shook his head fiercely, shutting his eyes tightly as his own vision suddenly gave out, a completely different scene settling before his eyes. He stifled another gasp as the new scene slid into focus...a dark room somewhere, empty, save for a large, coiled snake near a hearth...and there was hate, so much of it that his scar flared in renewed pain, and then image disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Blinkingly furiously, he stared at the concerned faces of his friends, struggling to catch his panicked breath and rise from the floor.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, helping him to stand and handing him his fallen bag.
"I'm not sure....I saw something...a room, with a snake, but....I've never had anything quite like that happen before." he admitted, and Hermione suddenly looked extremely worried. Harry had to admit /he/ was extremely worried, too.
"Listen, Harry...tell Dumbledore about it, okay? This can't be good." she said, her eyes clear and focused with concern. Ron was fidgeting slightly, obviously unnerved by the whole thing as well.
"I will, after class." Harry assured her, shifting his grip on the bag. "We'd better get going, I don't want to be late..." he added, and the subject was dropped.
"Alright...I'll see you two later." Hermione said, and took off down the hallway that lead to her own class. Harry and Ron watched her go silently, and then continued down the hallway, oblivious to the three sets of eyes focused on their backs. Far behind them, the two men, now accompanied by a smug, blonde haired student, exchanged a stern look, and then abruptly turned on their heels, walking in perfect sync as they disappeared down the hall.
"Surprise surprise, Potter...." the blonde boy whispered, "Looks like your in for more than you bargained for...."
-------end Chapter 11-----
Notes: MWAHAHAHAHA!!! cliffhanger!!! I told you I was returning to the plot!!! Oh, and don't worry, Snape will return in 12.
Thanks:: To everybody taht reviewed!! I noticed a couple people who said they'd never reviewed anything before (or even read fanfiction!) and I would like to send a special thankyou out to them. I really do appreciate it when you all review, I'll try my very best to stay true to the story and give you all a repreive from the boring, /real/ world!! Thank you soo much!!
A Father's Sin
by Severitus
Chapter 11----The Vision
Dumbledore strolled into the Hospital Wing precisely at seven a.m. the next day, looking only slightly less cheerful than normal. Harry had already changed into his robes, thanks to a house elf that had shown up with them earlier that morning. He was currently sitting atop the bed, book opened before him, when Dumbledore pushed aside the curtain with a smile.
"Hello, Harry. How are you feeling today?" he asked, walking over to stand next to the bed. Harry greeted him with a happy smile and closed the book, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Hello, Professor. Madam Pomfrey's finally letting me go today," he answered, absently reaching up to flick a strand of hair out of his face. Dumbledore stepped closer to the bed and sat down on its edge, turning a serious gaze on Harry.
"Yes, that's why I'm here, as a matter of fact." the old wizard said, "If you are still sure that you want the Glamourie spell replaced, then I will do it for you now." he continued, his blue eyes fixed and unblinking. Harry hopped to the floor and stood before the old wizard, his bare feet smacking lightly on the cold stone. (The elf had forgotten to bring shoes)
"I think it'd be best, at least for now. I don't think I could deal with all the questions just yet....I'm still a little confused about everything myself." he admitted, and Dumbledore nodded in understanding, his eyes drifting to the Serpent's Mark.
"Yes, I'll have to agree with you on that. I imagine it would cause quite a disturbance were you to show up for class today looking completely different." he said, mouth curving into a light smile. He sat up straighter then, and gave Harry a firm pat on the back. "Alright then. I've already sent Madam Pomfrey off, so we might as well get on with it. I must warn you though, it may not be /exactly/ the same as before...I will do my best, but I'm afraid my knowledge of Glamourie is nowhere near that of you mother's."
"That's ok."
"Very well then." Dumbledore replied, and raised his wand toward Harry, the tip hovering above his head. "Persona Veritas!" he said firmly, and there was a brief flash of bluish light. Harry sat perfectly still, watching in amazement as the light slowly traveled across his skin, taking on a mirror-like quality as it quickly spread, then deepened to the shade of flesh and hair. It was over in an instant, and Harry found himself staring at the hands he'd thought his own for the past fifteen years. Dumbledore chuckled as Harry whipped his hands up to his face, feeling the rounder shape of his jaw and nose, checking to make sure that everything was as it should be. Everything appeared to be correct....save for one small thing. His glasses.
"I'm sorry about the glasses, Harry..." Dumbledore began, sensing the boy's confusion, "I'm afraid I don't know how your mother managed to weave the spell to change your eyesight....as it is, I could make you a pair....but the lenses would have to be plain glass unless you'd want everything to be fuzzy." Dumbledore apologized, and Harry shook his head, running a hand back through his now short hair.
"That's alright, Headmaster. I'll just tell everyone I got contacts or something." he replied, smiling lightly. In all honesty, he wouldn't miss the glasses a bit.
"In that case, I do believe you have a few friends down in the breakfast hall, anxiously awaiting your arrival." he said with a bright smile, and Harry smiled in gratitude when Dumbledore held up his other hand, the fingers clutching a pair of shoes.
"Thanks!" Harry exclaimed, quickly claiming the shoes and wasting no time in attaching them to his feet. Dumbledore smiled again and turned toward the door, his face lined with slight worry.
"Harry, I want you to promise me something." he said after a moment, and Harry stood up from the bed, Dumbledore's book clutched to his chest. He nodded slowly, unease creeping into his chest from the odd look on the Headmaster's face. "I want you to promise me that if anything strange happens, anything at all...you'll come to either me or Professor Snape immediately." he said, his eyes clear and focused.
"Of course, Professor. I promise." Harry replied firmly, and Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction.
"Thank you, Harry. I'll see you at breakfast then."
--------
Ron and Hermione were staring rather nervously at their food, anxiously awaiting Harry's arrival from the hospital wing. Most of the school was either in the Great Hall, or had already finished and wandered back to the dorms. They, however, hadn't even touched their food yet.
"Do you suppose Dumbledore changed him back? I mean, there'd be so many questions if he still looked like...you know..." Ron finally said, shattering the silence between the two. Across from him, Hermione looked up from her scrambled eggs, giving him that familiar glare that meant once again she was questioning his brain power.
"Of /course/ Dumbledore will have changed him back. After all he's been through lately, do you honestly think Dumbledore would make Harry face a school full of stares and questions? And not to mention Professor Snape....if it got out that Harry was his son, it'd be really dangerous for him. Imagine what would happen if You-Know-Who found out that one of his supposedly loyal followers was the father of the boy that nearly killed him...." Hermione said, and Ron shivered, casting a sideways glance up at the Head table and Snape's empty seat.
"I see what you mean." he said, suppressing another shiver.
"On the other hand, he /did/ look pretty good..." Hermione added, but Ron cut her off with an abrupt glare.
"Oh, get off it Hermione..." he muttered.
"Morning!" a voice suddenly rang from behind him, and Ron nearly jumped a foot when a familiar figure suddenly sat down in the seat beside him.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, her expression both relieved and confused. "Your glasses are gone..." she added, and Harry shrugged.
"Dumbledore couldn't get the spell exactly as mum had it, but this is fine by me." he replied, thankful that only a few people glanced his way in curiosity.
"How are you? I mean, did you talk to your...um...to..." Ron began, breaking off in uncertainty at the last. Harry nodded, prodded the diced potatoes on his plate with a fork.
"Yeah, he stopped by yesterday night." Harry said a bit reluctantly. He didn't really want to talk about it yet, not until he'd had a chance to truly sort everything out. For one, he was still a bit unsure about Snape's slight change of attitude, and he really wanted a chance to talk to him again before he even dared trying to explain anything to anyone else. It was no mystery that Snape felt guilty for raping his mother, and because of it, felt obligated to take care of her (their) son....but there had to be something else. Thankfully, both Ron and Hermione got the hint, and let the subject drop.
"So....Ready for an hour of Divination, Harry?" Ron asked suddenly, smirking broadly. Harry blanched, cringing slightly back from the table.
"Hell no...." he muttered, "I wonder what form of death and destruction she'll predict for me today...."
"Drowning, perhaps?" Hermione offered innocently.
"Or devoured by blast-ended skrewts?" Ron added.
"Oy, don't even /joke/ about that one, Ron....." he said, though his face lit with a small smile at the memory. "We'd better get going, I don't want my death predicted in front of the entire class again..." he said, and they all rose from their hardly touched breakfasts and headed out of the hall, school bags in hand.
They headed down the long hallway leading further back into the castle, oblivious to the pair of tall, older wizards that strolled far behind them, their gazes fixed intently on the three. Ron and Hermione began to talk about something or other as they walked, but Harry didn't pay attention to what they were saying, couldn't, actually. Something was twitching in the back of his mind, demanding attention, taking precedence over the conversation with it's insistence.
"Harry, you okay?" Ron suddenly asked, and Harry only then noticed that he'd stopped walking, now several feet behind his friends. He looked up suddenly, struggling to clear his fuzzy thoughts.
"Uh...yeah, just distracted I guess." he muttered, and blinked fiercely again. Something was trying to edge in on his vision, some sort of dark image battling to overtake the real world with it's own visage. Harry cried out in surprise when he suddenly felt a sharp pain from his scar, strangely accompanied by an odd tingling directly between his eyes. Sinking slowly down against a nearby wall, he held a hand to his scar, gritting his teeth in an attempt to ward off the pain and whatever was struggling to invade his thoughts. Fear was rising up in his chest as well, accompanied by rampant confusion.
"Harry....I'll get Dumbledore..." Hermione began, but he shook his head fiercely, shutting his eyes tightly as his own vision suddenly gave out, a completely different scene settling before his eyes. He stifled another gasp as the new scene slid into focus...a dark room somewhere, empty, save for a large, coiled snake near a hearth...and there was hate, so much of it that his scar flared in renewed pain, and then image disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Blinkingly furiously, he stared at the concerned faces of his friends, struggling to catch his panicked breath and rise from the floor.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, helping him to stand and handing him his fallen bag.
"I'm not sure....I saw something...a room, with a snake, but....I've never had anything quite like that happen before." he admitted, and Hermione suddenly looked extremely worried. Harry had to admit /he/ was extremely worried, too.
"Listen, Harry...tell Dumbledore about it, okay? This can't be good." she said, her eyes clear and focused with concern. Ron was fidgeting slightly, obviously unnerved by the whole thing as well.
"I will, after class." Harry assured her, shifting his grip on the bag. "We'd better get going, I don't want to be late..." he added, and the subject was dropped.
"Alright...I'll see you two later." Hermione said, and took off down the hallway that lead to her own class. Harry and Ron watched her go silently, and then continued down the hallway, oblivious to the three sets of eyes focused on their backs. Far behind them, the two men, now accompanied by a smug, blonde haired student, exchanged a stern look, and then abruptly turned on their heels, walking in perfect sync as they disappeared down the hall.
"Surprise surprise, Potter...." the blonde boy whispered, "Looks like your in for more than you bargained for...."
-------end Chapter 11-----
Notes: MWAHAHAHAHA!!! cliffhanger!!! I told you I was returning to the plot!!! Oh, and don't worry, Snape will return in 12.