The Potions Master didn't rest well this night. All he wanted was to be with his little boy, and through the early morning hours he thought he had heard him calling several times. He hadn't wanted to leave the child on the evening before, but when Albus came in around one o'clock in the morning, telling him to go off to bed, he'd take over he didn't want to start a discussion. If the headmaster knew how much the small boy meant to him, he would be too vulnerable. No, he wasn't ready to give himself away. Not yet, anyway and if it would be up to him, then never.
At least now he was free of his promise. He didn't need to keep an eye out for Harry Potter anymore. Harry Potter was safe now; safe with his mother and father… gave a big sigh. He had seen himself as the father of this child and now the little guy was with his real father, happily in heaven, and here he was lonely again, him, the old snarky potions bat of the dungeons.
For the hundred thousandth time in his life, he thought life was not fair.
Why? Why had it to be Harry? "WHY?" He screamed into the darkness and in his rage fisted the pillow next to him. It would have been Harry's… With much more force than it would have been necessary, he threw the pillow out of his bed onto the opposite wall. Then he turned around, burying his face under his own pillow, holding it down onto the back of his head. Maybe death would take him too… but he only felt a sudden wetness in his eyes, as silent despair overwhelming him and he fell into a troubled sleep.
- . -
In the morning, the headmaster was sitting on the guardian chair next to Harry's dead body, when Severus came in to check and see his little son. He needed some time to be alone with Harry.
"Good morning, Severus." The Headmaster said in a surprisingly good mood. "How are you today, my boy?"
But Severus was just growling at the other wizard, while reaching into his pocket and taking out a vile with a very, very dark almost black looking red liquid in it.
Swirling the liquid around once to set the potion in motion, gave the liquid a metallic glitter which made it look poisonous. He dropped the vial into Albus out stretched hand, who kept smiling at him.
"You know, there is hope in this world. You must never give up hope." With these words, the older wizard placed the small vial in his own pocket and got up from the chair. "Excuse me a moment." He left the room without waiting for an answer from the Potions Professor.
Severus first stood there doing nothing.
The room was still fairly dark, the sun did not yet rise. The nine candles around the little boy were still burning and gave the room a cosy impression. Looking finally at Harry, Severus saw that there were many more flowers now than there had been on the previous night. There were flowers for good luck and some healing plants. He was surprised when he saw a bunch of Sky Key's within Harry's flowers. That one made him think. This particular flower was a symbol to be used as a door opener for hidden treasures.
'Hidden treasures, hmm. I wonder what other flowers he's got,' Severus used the time to check a little more closely. He saw a Gypsy Flower, a small twig of Holly, the blue Mermaid's Rose and the Elderberry, a Blood Rose and even a white Water Lily. He had to suppress a smile, when he found a bunch of Daisy's.
He sat himself on the chair that Albus had just abandoned.
"Good morning, Harry." After looking around carefully, he whispered: "Good morning Harry Snape." And he smiled a sad smile at the little boy, caressing his lifeless arm. It was like Harry was twinkling with his eyes at him. And he thought he was hearing the little child's voice whispering "Good morning, Daddy," into the silent darkness of the room.
It started to get lighter outside when Pomona came in to sit with Harry for a while. Severus rose immediately to give over the guardian chair. Smiling at him, Pomona took it and Severus left the little room again.
It was still early, the castle just waking up from a nights sleep. Severus decided to go outside for a bit to clear his mind a little before breakfast. Closing the huge doors behind himself, he felt cold right away. But he wanted to at least breathe some fresh air. He turned to the right to go within the little Garden, but stayed under the roof of the archway.
Freezing, he walked down until the end. Turning left to take the side under the arcades to the little bridge over the canyon, he stopped in his tracks and hid behind one pillar. Albus Dumbledore was standing on the bridge, talking to a man who looked like Alastor Moody. He just handed over the small vial Severus had given him not too long ago. He hoped Moody's magical eye didn't scan him yet when he tried to steal himself away, back the way he came. Being worth the spy he was, he dawdled his way back into the castle.
Nothing happened. He guessed either Dumbledore or Moody hadn't realised him being there. He felt relieved. He didn't want to be a witness to a crime. It was bad enough that he had to brew a poison – Harry would have hated him for doing it… No, he didn't want to think about that at all. Pushing away the thought, he went into the Great Hall for an early breakfast.
No one had told the students of what had happened to Harry Potter yet. Some had the feeling something was off, but the feeling wasn't strong enough.
On one hand Severus was glad that none of the pupils knew – but on the other hand he wished they knew and then would leave him alone. It was always hard for him to teach children which didn't want to learn. He had to have his eyes everywhere at the same time, smelling explosions before they happened to protect them and at the same time he had to make his lesson interesting enough for the students to be occupied and stay away from dangerous pranks.
Sighing, he felt tired, so tired. He just wanted to lay down in his bed and sleep; if possible, forever.
He was looking down at his food and barely eating, his hunger gone. He realised he was done with eating. Grumbling quietly, he got up from his chair and left to go down, back to the dungeons, getting ready to teach for another day.
He automatically went into the direction of 'Harry's room', but stopped in his tracks when he realized someone was in there. He could make out Minerva's voice as he strolled closer to the room.
"Oh, Pomona. Just pull yourself together. You need to eat, you know this. I have a free period this morning, and I'm here to watch the child. Now go, and get some strength into your body. And don't alert the students."
"But, -sniff- Minerva, don't you think it's just so sad? This –sniff- poor little boy, -sniff- I… -sniff- I…"
"Pomona," there was a break and Severus heard some movement in the room. "Here, take this. And stop your crying, for goodness sake. The children do not need to know yet That will just raise panic. Now stop it finally."
The potions master had to suppress a smile. Minerva almost sounded like Albus. Realising he would not be alone with his son he turned and went down towards his classroom to prepare the ingredients he needed for this day.
- . -
None of them saw the almost invisible figure hiding in the shadows. Sir Frederick could not be too far away from Harry, also watching over the dead body. Three day's the human wanted to keep the little body open in this room. The ghost understood the importance of this tradition. But soon, soon the boy would be his.
- . -
In the midmorning Augusta Longbottom came again with Neville in tow, who was dressed all in black and looked like he had been crying for a while. Minerva was glad to see her friend again, but she realised right away that something was off. Augusta refused to sit on Harry's other side, so Minerva moved away from the guardian chair to sit on the stone bench by the little boy's feet and asked the older lady to take a seat next to her. She did, and with a closer look into her face the Transfiguration professor could tell that also Augusta had been crying.
Somehow she couldn't believe that the tears she shed were for Harry.
"Augusta." Very careful she laid her hand on the older witches arm to gain her attention. "Tell me, what is the matter with you?"
"…" With shaking hands Augusta took a small handkerchief out of her bag and dabbed at her eyes. Minerva got worried. It had been a while since she'd seen her friend in this stage. The last time had been when Frank and Alice…
"Augusta!" Minerva looked straight into the other woman's from tears shiny eyes. "Tell me. What happened?" The animagus spoke with a harsh voice, almost as if she knew.
"Frank – Alice… they passed away this morning…" Here the normally so strict woman broke down into sobs and tears. Minerva didn't know what hit her. She never, never had seen her friend this way, not even after her son and daughter-in-law got tortured by Death Eaters and moved into St Mungos.
"Oh Gusty," the Professor used the little girl-form from Augusta's name to calm her down. She embraced her as much as she could and rocked her like a child. "Shhh, let it out. I'll hold you, I'm here; it's all right. Oh my, oh my…"
Augusta was crying desperately in Minerva's arms now. There was no hope; her son, Frank and his beautiful wife, Alice, had died once more and this time for good.
And while Minerva tried to calm down her old friend, Neville tried to make him self real small and not be seen. He placed himself on the edge of the visitor's chair, next to the dead boy he knew was the former Boy-Who-Lived. He felt uncomfortable in these black clothes. The shirt had been too big, and Gran had to make it smaller. But because of her condition, one side was tighter then the other. His trousers had originally fit his uncle and they fit him fine around the waist, but they looked like high-water. Maybe these trousers had been shorts for his uncle?
Sadly, he looked down to the pale yellowish face of Harry. He knew they would have been good friends, if they would have met earlier.
"Will you say hello to my mummy and daddy for me?" Neville whispered into Harry's direction while wringing his hands. "They have left this world, you know – this morning." He looked away, down at his feet, which were clothed in black leather shoes, hiding a sob. "Not that I miss them much – I haven't known them, but they were still my mummy and daddy…" A tear found its way down his cheek. -And another one. And then he was sitting there crying silently. Slowly, he moved forward and laid his head on the soft yellow blanket, next to Harry's arm.
He calmed soon, since he didn't want anybody seeing him this way. He pushed his arms under his chin and looked up at the still form of the other boy.
There were all kinds of weeds and flowers around him. His hands were holding onto each other, but mostly Neville liked the look on the small face. He looked happy, as if he'd died while laughing. Neville could sit here forever and look at Harry. He realised the dead boy was smaller than himself, and suddenly he felt a little protectiveness stir within him. Oh, he wished he'd been there for the little guy, to help him and keeping harm far away from him.
With extreme gentleness, he caressed Harry's hands with his fingers. In his mind he was far away, playing somewhere with Harry, in a mid-world. He almost could hear him laughing, with an angel's voice.
Neville wasn't sure if he'd just imagined it or if he'd heard it in real. When he looked closer to the still form he realised the boy didn't move he was still looking the same on the same place than just minutes ago. But something was different. It took Neville a little while until he suddenly saw the shade of a green glow on the still boy's chest. Curious, Neville reached over to look under the other boy's shirt – only to discover a round, sun shaped amulet on the dead body. The green stone, which was placed in the middle, gave out a mysterious dull glow.
Surprised he let go of Harry and jumped off the chair. "Gran." He didn't take his sight off of the other boy, watching him as if he would expect Harry to open his eyes and get off the table or so. But when he received no answer from his grandmother or the Professor, he slowly turned his gaze to look away from the dead body, towards the grown ups.
They were still sitting on the stone bench; Minerva had her arm around Neville's gran while she was telling something to the transfiguration professor.
"Gran?" Neville called out, but he only got a stern look from Minerva, for interrupting. "But there is something glowing on Harry's chest. It's a green light…"
"Neville," Gran cut in with a soft, weak voice. "Please, not now."
"But -"
"Neville. Please." He was surprised. He'd never before heard his grandmother speak with this whiney voice. His mouth snapped closed.
"Yes."
He felt the voice more than he heard it. "Yes?" he repeated surprised and looked around to see who this voice belonged to.
On the other side of Harry he could see a shiny figure, not taller than himself. Startled, he jumped backwards a little. The ghostly creature held up one hand as to stop Neville from shouting or running, facing him and smiled. "Oh, don't be afraid," his smile grew wider and his ghostly eyes were sparkling. "You have noticed the green light, have you?" The small man pulled his hand back down, nodding to himself. "Yes, you have."
Neville sat on the chair as if made out of stone. He knew what this figure was, a ghost. And the ghost was here with Harry, because it was… It was Harry's personal ghost. It must be, why else was the ghost with Harry? It must be Harry's guardian, like a guardian angel… Neville realised he was still nodding and stopped immediately, watching the ghost.
"Why… why is it…?"
"Glowing?" The ghost ended the unfinished question.
Neville nodded again and stopped abruptly.
The ghost leaned closely to the boy as if he had to hide the secret, which he was going to give on to Neville now.
"That's because Harry is still alive he whispered, Neville had to lean closer so as not to miss a word.
"Alive!" he repeated, surprised, and almost jumped back.
"Shhhh," the ghost held up his hands. "Not so loud. They-" he made a circling gesture with his hand
"-believe he's dead already. But he could be saved."
"Saved?" Neville was shaking his head astonished. "How?"
The ghost picked himself up again to stand straight. "Come with me outside, I'll tell you," he whispered.
"But…" Neville looked into the direction of Gran and Minerva. They were still talking silently, Minerva hugging the older witch closely.
"OK." The small boy got up from the chair and walked out the door silently for not disturbing the two women, followed closely by the ghostly figure.
- . -
Outside Sir Frederick took over the lead into a dark alcove almost across Harry's room, a little to the left. Neville sat himself on the stony corner piece that was built into the wall, looking at the ghost expectant. Leaning closer to him again, the ghost was telling him the story how he had met Harry and through an accident, he died. Almost, anyway. "But you could save him" the ghost finished his story.
"How could I save someone? I'm not a good wizard."
The figure nodded seriously. "But you don't have to be a great wizard for this. There is a flower. If young Harry has one leaf in his mouth, he will come back to life. You just need to get the flower and give it to him."
The young boy looked at the ghost in awe. "I?"
"Yes," the ghost nodded in confidence. "You."
"But how? I'm not a pupil of this school, I don't know my way around, and where would I find this flower? Does it grow in the greenhouses?"
Sir Frederick hat to suppress a laugh. "No. No greenhouse. A teacher found it and took it away. You need to get it back and save Harry's life. But this must stay a secret until you have given him the leaf. Just think you tell everyone and then you can't find the flower. And the teacher who took the flower is bad, he wants Harry dead."
"But then… this is dangerous. What if this professor finds me?"
Tipping his head onto one side, he nodded at Neville. "I don't think he'll discover you, if you are careful. Surely, I could find someone else to help Harry." Stepping out a little of the alcove and looking down the hallway, he added "Just think how proud your grandmother would be if you succeed…"
"All right, I'll do it. Just tell me where I have to go."