Hermione shrugged, "I don't know. We asked him already, but that doesn't really mean anything."
"Well, Hagrid isn't the best at keeping secrets is he?" Ron said, "So, yeah, if you asked and he didn't say anything, it does mean something. It means he probably has nothing to do with it."
"No, it means that he's embarrassed or upset or something and keeps this secret locked away tight, it must hold a bad memory for him." Hermione replied.
"Or that he doesn't know anything." Ron repeated.
"Ron, he knows something, I know he knows something. He knows, that I know he knows something, but he doesn't want me to know what he knows." Hermione said.
Ron gave her a perplexed looked and said, "Yeah, ok, I know."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Ron, I'm just saying that he doesn't want us to figure it out, but he has something to do with the Tarasque."
"And what supports that theory?"
"Just the way he spoke, how shifty and agitated he became." Hermione said.
"He became agitated because you were accusing him of bringing a huge, evil beast this close to the castle. I would get agitated too if someone jumped to conclusions." Ron said indignantly.
"He knows! Harry, I'm right, tell him I'm right!" Hermione commanded.
Harry looked shocked, he had only been listening, he hadn't expected to be dragged into the arguement.
"Uh..." Harry said.
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked.
"What? I don't know ok. I think you're right, but I'm not sure. OK!" Harry said quickly and firmly.
"There you go Ron." Hermione said and pointed at Harry.
"There you go what? He just said he's not sure!"
"No, he said he thinks I'm right!"
"Well I heard not sure."
"He only said that so he wouldn't get one of us mad, which is you by the way. He knows I'm right, he's just afraid you'll get all angry." Hermione said.
"No, if he's afraid of anyone its you! You get all in a huff forever! I stay mad for like, three seconds."
"Yeah, cause then you see food and everything in your mind goes blank."
"I just...er!" Ron said.
"Very articulate Ron, truly inspiring." Hermione retorted.
Ron turned bright red from anger.
"Harry, tell him I'm right. Just say it, we both know I am." Hermione said.
"I'm not sure."
Hermione turned on him, "What do you mean YOUR NOT SURE?!"
"Well, I...I'm not sure." Harry said surprised at having her wrath upon him suddenly.
"What, why AREN"T YOU SURE!?" Hermione tried to say calmly but in the end she shouted again.
"Well, I agree he was all shifty and nervous, but I'm not sure that wasn't just cause of the Tarasque." Harry said slowly and calmly
"He was nervous about the Tarasque cause he brought it here." Hermione replied, trying to be calm as well.
"Could be. I just don't want to accuse him and then be wrong, ok." Harry said, wincing slightly at the look on her face.
"Fine. Alright."
"But his track record isn't good Hermione, I agree, it is possible he did this."
Hermione looked like she felt much better and walked off.
Ron rolled his eyes and mouthed, 'Insane.'
Harry pretended not to see and turned to Snape who look amused.
"You got pulled in." Snape said.
"Yeah." Harry said glumly.
"Yet I apparently remain immune." Snape said gleefully.
"Not for long."
"Why?"
"Cause you'll get sucked in. They'll notice you sooner or later."
"Why?"
"Cause, you know time, brains working, eyes seeing, that crud." Harry replied.
"Harry, I'm not going to be here that long, not like this." Snape said sadly, "I won't...I don't know, be in their arguement mediator radar."
"Oh, yeah...I forgot."
"Yeah well, try not to. Remember, soon as they find a cure, I'm gone and ass man is back." Snape said.
"Maybe not, maybe Hermione is wrong. Maybe you'll remember, or change." Harry said desperatly.
"If there is one thing that I learned this past day and a half is that Hermione is almost, less than almost, never wrong." Snape replied, "And never ever let Hagrid pick the pet he's getting you."
Harry chuckled and then sighed, "Yeah, I know, but I want her to be wrong." Harry said, voicing this thought for the first time.
"You want me to remember?" Snape asked and then nodded, "Yeah, well, I do too."
"I also want them never to find a cure."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, its good to know I'm liked, at least this me." Snape said.
"Your a friend and if anyone asked me three days ago if I would ever be friends with Severus Snape I would have looked at them like they were crazy. But now...your a friend." Harry said.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Harry replied. Harry realized for the first time, they were alone. Well, not alone, alone, for Hermione and Ron were only a few paces behind them. But they were in a heated arguement and Harry knew it would be awhile before they turned away from one another in outright anger or silent resentment. Now was as good a time as any to ask questions of Snape.
"Snape, I...I know you...you knew my Dad, but did you know my Mom? Well, I'm sure you knew her, at least by name, but did you know her?" Harry asked.
Snape looked at Harry wide eyed, and penetrating. Harry knew that Snape knew what he was asking. Snape looked at Harry curiously for a few more moments and then said, "Yeah, I knew your Mom."
"How well did you know her?"
"Fairly well." Snape replied airly.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I knew her. Alright." Snape snapped at him.
Harry was taken aback at the sudden change in attitude, "I was only asking."
Snape sighed and said, "We lived near one another before we went to Hogwarts."
Harry was stunned, he'd known his mother was raised as a muggle because that's what his grandparents were, but he hadn't realized Snape had lived nearby.
"Did you ever...know one another, like see or talk to one another?" Harry asked.
Snape nodded, "I watched her."
"Watched her?"
"Yeah."
"Like...how?"
"I would hide, she was so...intimidating at times." Snape said.
Harry nodded, "Did you ever talk?"
"Yes, I was the first one to tell her she was a witch, did you know that?" Snape asked.
Once again Harry was surprised, he hadn't known this at all.
"Her sister, I think she called her Tuney, or Petunia I guess, didn't like me or Lily using magic, but I suppose that's because she couldn't. I think she was jealous." Snape said.
Harry thought for a moment. Trying to picture how his Aunt had felt. He imagined how Dudley felt when Harry was told he was a wizard, if Dudley hadn't thought it was such an otrocious thing beforehand. But he couldn't do it, so he tried to put himself in her place. He pictured how he would have felt if Dudley and not him had been given the letter and invited to Hogwarts. It was hurtful and anger inspiring. He imagined how his Aunt felt when his mother came home, telling of adventures she'd had, of transfiguring things, making things float, being able to disappear and appear at will. He imagined his grandparents falling all over Lily and Petunia being neglected. For the first time he felt a pang of pity and sorrow for his Aunt, something she had surely never felt for him.
"Yeah." Harry said.
"She...meaning Petunia, really hated me and magic, but now I wonder if she almost viewed us as the same thing. I was definately connected to the magic, maybe she put it in her mind that I was the cause?" Snape speculated
"Probably. She does that, and she really does hate anything to do with magic, I know."
"Really, how?" Snape asked curious.
"Well, she...raised isn't the right word...she...let me occupy space in her home. That about sums it up." Harry said.
"You lived with her, Petunia?" Snape said surprised.
"Yeah, when my...my...uh parents died...I went to..." Harry didn't finish, but Snape only nodded.
"She she ever...tell you, or share with you how she felt about magic, is that how you knew?" Snape asked.
"Well, share isn't the right word, and tell isn't either. They have too much of a niceness about them. No, she more...radiated the feeling of hatred toward magic and wel..me by extension I guess." Harry said.
"She hated you?"
"Yeah, her, and her husband, and her son. They all hate me. They basically wish I were dead." Harry replied.
Snape looked at him wide eyed, "What would make you say that?"
"Just a feeling I get from them. And the fact that they constantly tell me I'm a freak, made me live in a cupboard under the stairs for eleven years, yell at me and treat me like dirt and well usually ignore me completely like I'm not there. But its really just a feeling." Harry said sarcastically.
"So I'm guess your Aunt confiding in you is a big no?" Snape asked.
"Yeah. She didn't even tell me I was a wizard until Hagrid came bursting through the door holding my acceptance letter." Harry said.
"You were raised as a muggle?" Snape asked wide eyed once again.
"Yep."
"Well I sure wasn't." Snape replied.
"So, you knew my Mom and my Aunt and my Dad."
"Yep."
"Were you and my Mom, friends?"
"Yes...well. We had an interesting childhood friendship. Half the time we were angry or upset with one another and the other half we were the best of friends. A lot of times her being mad at me had to with your Aunt. Like I said, she hated me and she got on my nerves. Sometime I well...my magic was uncontrollable then...but sometimes I did things, bu accident."
"Did things?" Harry asked interested.
"Yes...well...like I said they were accidents. I made things happen and well, sometime Petunia got hurt. Sorry." Snape said.
Harry wasn't upset about his Aunt getting hurt, she was fine now, he was more upset that Snape had done things like that, but Snape had said they were accidents.
"We were friends and we even road on the Hogwarts Express together. That's where I met your Potter...James...your Father." Snape said, obviously trying to be respectful, but it was because of Harry, not because of James.
"And?" Harry asked, wanting Snape to go on.
"Well, I wanted to be together, in the same house as Lily..well I wanted Lily to be in the same house as me."
"Slytherin?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because, all my life, by my Mom, I was told that Slytherin was the greatest of all houses. That Slytherin alone was the house to be in and all other houses were far inferior. She said Slytherin was where I belonged. Though Ravenclaw was next, she didn't mind me being called smart. Then Hufflepuff. Then Gryffindor. She said she wouldn't mind very much if I was in Ravenclaw. She said she would be disappointed if I was in Hufflepuff. And she said she would never call me her son again if I was in Gryffindor. Gryffidnors were evil, did you know that? They stole and took all the glory, they were pompous and proud, which people took as them being gallant and noble. That's what me mum said. If she saw me now, walking and talking with Gryffidnors. Where Gryffindor robes, I think she'd die all over again." Snape said, half humorously, half full of sorrow.
Harry nodded and chuckled at the thought of Gryffindors being evil, but Slytherin and Gryffindor had always been rivals.
"But Lily didn't end up a Slytherin, did she?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes...she didn't become one. I was...unhappy to say the least. It would have be better if your mother had become a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, easier perhaps. But I knew that your mother would never settle in those two, it was either Gryffindor or Slytherin, whichever one the hat decided was better for her. Apparently Slytherin was not better." Snape said gloomily.
"So, she became a Gryffindor and you became a Slytherin, did it end there?"
"In a way...it did, though our relationship...friendship stayed for some time, years after, but it wasn't what...what it could have been." Snape said, there was definate longing in his tone. "We were a friend of sorts, but we became more of an aquataince and then...well, things went down hill. And her being a Gryffindor made her one step closer to that Potter, uh, your dad." Snape said with malic at first, but then changed.
"Then what?"
"Well, we grew apart. We weren't awful to one another, at least she wasn't awful to me and she helped me in and out of some situations, but we were just two people who had once be close. Pot...James always fancied her. He had taken a liking to her from the beginning, but who wouldn't...I mean that your mom had her ways...she was pretty and smart and..." Snape stopped realizing what he was saying and blushed a very deep red, almost as deep a red as Ron did.
Harry wasn't startled though, he'd almost expected this, he knew in his gut, just from the way Snape reacted to everything about his Mom, that Snape had liked her...in a certainw way.
Snape looked at Harry, probably expecting anger or at least surprise, but he didn't get it and was confused, "I thought you'd be...upset if I told you. I mean, you hate me, well the other me."
Harry had completely forgotten about adult Snape, again, even though moments before, teenage Snape had told him not to. He'd been so wrapped up in Snape's tale, in Snape's history that he'd forgotten that this had happened in the more...distant past. Then the idea of adult Snape liking his mother sent a shiver up and down his spine. He couldn't picture them together even though he'd never really know his mother. He just couldn't see the bat like horrible man flirting and courting his mother, it was obscene. Then he had another idea, another image. What would have happened if his father, James, hadn't won Lily's affections or at least got her to marry him? What if Snape had won her over instead. Would he be Harry Snape right now? This sent him another more powerful shiver. But then, would Snape be the spine shivering man he was today. Would Harry's mother have kept him from the dark? Probably. Would adult Snape be the evil, torturous man he was...probably not. These thoughts were sent spinning through his head, added to the others in his mind. His mind felt like it would explode.
Snape was watching Harry and must have decided he was not angry because he said, "I fancied your mum Harry. I liked her a lot."
