A/N: Hey there everyone! I hope you all got my message about having technical problems with the last chapter. If not, well it doesn't matter anymore because I finally got it up. So here's chapter Nijuuichi (21). I think I'll pick up right where we left off. No forward skip or anything. Okay, here we go. Don't forget to review.
FLAMES REKINDLED?
Dumbledore turned back to Harry and sighed. "Harry, Professor Snape will explain things. If you would, please follow him."
The boy swallowed thickly and looked at the potion master hesitantly. After a minute he nodded and then turned to give one last sympathetic look to the Weasleys.
"Don't worry Harry." said George.
"Thanks to you everything will be okay." said Fred. The two twins smiled at their friend, reassuringly.
"Yeah Harry," said Ginny. "Thank you very much."
Ron smiled and gave a dismissing wave of his hand. Harry took a raged breath, still not quite satisfied.
"Mr. Potter…" Severus' voice cut in and Harry turned to see him holding the door open, waiting.
Harry stepped forward and walked past the man. As he climbed down the stairs he heard the door close gently behind them, and then Severus' footsteps.
"Tell me about this dream." the man's deep voice reverberated off the stone walls.
"There was a large snake, and it moved down this hall. Then I saw Mr. Weasley walking through aisles of glowing crystal balls. He had his wand drawn as if he was expecting an attack. Then the snake was there and it was striking him, he fell to the ground and couildn't protect himself. I woke up after that." Harry looked over his shoulder to see the man staring intensely at him.
After a while Severus finally spoke, "Dumbledore believes that you and the dark lord are connected somehow. After all when you survived the killing curse he lost half of his magic. Perhaps, he can manipulate your thoughts; dreams for example. I will teach you Occulmency and Legilimency. The art of protecting or shielding your mind, and the art of penetrating the mind." Harry half smiled, he always loved learning new things.
As if sensing his fear, Severus moved to walk side by side with the boy. "Don't worry Harry. I'm sure Mr. Weasley will be fine, thanks to you."
Harry's heart pounded in his chest and his cheeks flushed. Was Severus Snape trying to console him? "Thank you, Professor."
The man smirked, "Didn't I say before, when we're alone, to call me Severus?"
"Yes, I think you might have mentioned that once or twice." Harry said. "But that was before."
They were silent as they walked the rest of the way to the potion's classroom. "To prevent our lesson from being interrupted we'll go to my private lab." Severus walked briskly to an arched door. It was not the same one that lead to his chambers though it shared the same wall. Harry followed quickly behind the man. Severus unlocked the door and held it open for the boy.
Harry stepped into the small room and looked around. There were shelves lining every free space on the walls and a counter next to the door. An empty cauldron sat over an unlit burner. There was a wooden chair, that reminded him of the same chair he sat in during his trial, pushed under the counter. Severus Snape closed the door and stepped around Harry to reach for the chair. He dragged it across the floor and posed it in the center of the room. "You can sit here." he said turning his back to the boy.
Harry moved out of the man's way and took a seat in the chair. His mind was racing and his heart was pounding. He wanted to reach out and touch the man, he wanted the man to reach out and touch him. He had never been in love before and he couldn't help himself.
He wasn't sure what he was going to do exactly, or what he was going to say. He wasn't sure what the man would do, or what he would say. He just wanted to be near him. It was true the room was small enough for him to be considered relatively close to him right now, but he wanted to be closer. Just as he was about to stand and cross the room Snape turned to face him and pointed his wand at the boy.
"Prepare yourself."
Harry gulped and stared up at the man, his green eyes dull from his sleepless night. "Wait," he said nervously. "What exactly is this going to do to me?"
"I will attempt to penetrate your mind. You will attempt to block me." Severus' eyes turned sympathetic and he lowered his wand. "I'm going use Legilimency once, without you trying to protect yourself. You need to be able to know what it feels like at full strength. I'll do this for thirty seconds, then I'll give you a minute break before telling you how to shield yourself. I'll see your darkest memories, and all of your secrets. I apologize in advance." he raised his wand again, "In three…two…one. Legilimens!"
+~*~*~*~+
Suddenly Severus was pulled into Harry's past, the memories showed themselves at random. Every few seconds it was a different memory.
"Blown up?! You told me my parents died in a car crash!" eleven year old Harry Potter yelled at a curly haired woman who was standing next to a whale of a man.
"A car crash?! A car crash killed Lily and James Potter?!" Hagrid the half giant shouted.
"We had to say something." the woman said in a nasally voice.
Harry's life whooshed past the potion professor before stopping at another memory.
"It's no use, Harry! It only listens to me now!" a young Tom Riddle shouted after the retreating twelve year old. He was standing by Ginny Weasley's limp body. A giant snake, that could only have been a basilisk, struck at the boy.
Harry quickly turned down a tunnel and ran into the darkness. The basilisk slithered after him. The boy ran through the network of tunnels, like a mouse in a maze. He turned down one only to meet a metal grate blocking his way. He was cornered. He quickly turned to see the basilisk's head appear in the entrance. Its tongue darted out to smell for its prey. Harry slowly reached down, trying not to make any noise, and picked up a pretty good sized rock. With the flick of his wrist, he chucked it around the corner, causing a splash in the water that was pooled on the floor of the tunnels. The snake turned its head with a start and made a quick retreat, having been fooled.
Once again images of the boy steadily growing older flew around Snape, until he landed in another.
"YOU INTOLLERABLE BRAT!" a deep voice boom across the expanse of the memory. It was the man who looked like a whale from before. His fat face was pink with rage and he held a small cast iron shovel, meant for the fireplace, high in the air. A broken Harry laid curled up on the floor beneath him. Blood stained his too-large shirt as he squeezed his eyes shut.
The man brought the shovel down across the boy's rib cage. Producing a pained wail from the teenager. Suddenly the man's large foot kicked his stomach, successfully silencing the cry by forcing all of the oxygen in his lungs out of his body in one rush.
Severus saw many more memories, some worse and some slightly better.
A familiar door swung open to reveal himself, very angry, wearing his pajamas. His expression changed to one of confusion. There was no one in front of him. Then invisible hands pressed to his chest, gently pushing him out of the way.
Severus watched himself step back and heard Harry's voice say, "Thank you." The door swung closed, apparently by itself, and then, after a moment, the owner of that voice materialized in front of him. Snape's posture stiffened and he stared dumbstruck at the boy.
Harry sighed, "I wanted to talk." It was obvious he was trying to look as serious as possible.
"I already told you, there's nothing to talk about! I've already apologized, it's done. Why can't you just forget it ever happened?"
Harry's expression fell, looking hurt. "How can you say that?! You and I-"
"I'M SORRY!!! I didn't mean to rape you! It just happened. It's almost like I couldn't stop myself."
"Rape?" said Harry his confusion clear in his tone. "You didn't rape me." a smile crossed his beautiful features. "That wasn't rape."
They stared at each other for a long moment, Harry smiling patiently and Severus deliberating.
Finally the man spoke. "You mean…it was…"
"Consensual." Harry finished his sentence for him.
All of a sudden the scenery changed, Severus glared dejectedly at the passing images. He had wanted to see the rest of that memory.
"Hi Harry, hi Ron." Cedric Diggory was wearing formal robes and sitting next to Harry, who was sitting next to Ron. He smiled at the two but noticed the Weasley boy glowering at somebody. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's jealous." replied Harry with a nod.
"Am not!" shouted Ron suddenly livid. "It's just…" he waved his hand towards the dancing crowd, obviously he was not talking about the entire student body, but one of the couples amongst the swaying masses. "You know."
"Is he jealous of Krum? Or Hermione, do you think?" Cedric and Harry laughed together as the ginger haired boy's face turned as red as his hair.
"Oh shut it!"
"Where's Cho?" asked Harry changing the subject.
"Oh she's over there, dancing with some friends. I told her I wanted to talk to you."
"Really? 'Bout what?" asked the other boy intrigued.
"Um…" Cedric looked over Harry's head at his companion.
Harry picked up on the hint. "We can go over there if you want." he said pointing to a deserted corner.
"Fantastic." The older boy stood up and walked briskly to the appointed location.
"I'll be back in a moment." Harry said to Ron, who could care less as he was trying to shoot lasers from his eyes. Then he followed after the Hufflepuff.
"Listen," the older boy began. "I wanted to thank you for tipping me off about the dragons." It was then that Severus saw himself enter the room and start to look around.
"Oh, well it was no problem. I'm sure you would've done the same for me."
"Yeah, exactly. Umm…" Cedric looked around and spied a few stragglers close by. It was then that he leaned forward. Severus saw himself on the other side of the room suddenly become enraged. The boy whispered, "Take your egg to the prefect's bathroom on the second floor. Take a bath."
The potion's professor was shocked. He could have sworn the two of them had kissed. Then again he could have sworn Harry was the one that had been stealing from his stores as well. But it turned out to be Barty Crouch Jr. posing as Mad Eye Moody.
The man found himself back in the small laboratory, standing in front of a very exhausted Harry. The boy was heaving and sweat left a slight sheen over his face and neck.
"That felt like it was longer than thirty seconds." Harry panted hunching over his elbows on his knees.
"I'm so sorry." Severus said his voice full of anguish.
"Oh, that's alright. Dumbledore told you teach me this, right?"
"That too, but that's not what I was talking about." The man stepped forward, and for the first time in months, not counting their accidental collision, he touch the boy. He rested both hands on his shoulders and dropped to his knees, so he could look Harry in his perfect green eyes. "Harry, I had it all wrong. I thought…I thought he had kissed you. And I got angry, but that's still no excuse for what I did. You should hate me, or be terrified of me at least."
For a long moment Harry didn't say anything, he was too lost in the physical contact and swimming black orbs. "I know…I should. And believe me it doesn't make any sense to me at all, why I don't. I forgive you, Severus."
The man's breath caught and his heart thudded in his chest wildly. Harry had not only called him by his first name but straight out said he was forgiven. The gaping hole in his chest seemed like a far off memory he hoped never to return again.
Unable to stop himself, not that he was trying too hard, Severus reached forward and wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders. He was surprised to feel Harry return the hug. Their heartbeats pounded against each other, beating out a rhythmic melody.
"Harry," Snape said his voice haggard. "I don't believe you'll have to return to Little Whinging this summer."
"Really?" Harry asked excited. He pulled back a little ways to look into the man's face. "How? Why?"
"Because," Severus said matter-of-factly. "I'm going to kill your uncle."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, don't trick me like that."
"I'm serious."
The green eyed boy smiled sweetly and moved his arms to hook behind Severus' neck. "Thank you for caring enough to jeopardize your future for me." Then, without any hesitation, Harry pressed his lips to man's.
A/N: Alright-y! I hoped everyone enjoyed that as much as I did. For your information, this was chapter Nijuuichi! (21) Now a WARNING: in the following chapters there will be scenes depicted as extremely pornographic in nature. Involving a grown man and an underage boy. Okay enough of that,but seriously, in the next chapter and probably the ones after it, there will be sex, lots and lots of sex. So spend this valuable time preparing yourself, take your vitamins regularly as I'm sure you will suffer from multiple nose bleeds. Chapter Nijuuni! (22) coming to a computer-with-internet-access near you!