Notes: Sorry this took so long, guys. But guess what? I've only got a week of school left! WHEEEEEE!!!!! Oh, and this is just the first half of the chapter. It seemed like a good place to end it, and I figured I'd kept everyone waiting long enough. Therefore, you can expect part II to arrive in a day or so. (*gasp* impossible, you say!) Nay, 'tis Friday, and I've not got much else to do! ^_^;
A Father's SinBy Severitus
Chapter 38—Beginnings of a Bad Day, part I
On one morning precisely a week later, Harry woke up feeling just a bit odd. He went through the usual routine; get up, get dressed, and studiously avoid his dorm mates, but the strange, almost tense feeling persisted. Nothing appeared to be different or wrong, and yet his mind insisted that something was, or would be very soon. And so, with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, he made his way to the Great Hall for the first meal of the day, hoping to find at least some distraction in the morning gathering.
By the time he stepped through the heavy oaken doors and took his first step into the room, he knew without a doubt that his hopes had been in vain. The feeling of 'wrongness' that had plagued him since waking seemed to permeate the room like a thick cloud, and he felt his muscles tensing as he glanced around. At first he couldn't figure out what was going on, but then his eyes settled on the one thing that almost everyone seated seemed to be doing. Everyone was scattered around various copies of the 'Daily Prophet,' and were either engrossed in perusing the material or were adamantly discussing it with their companions. Something big must have happened, he thought to himself as he crossed the room, and that something undoubtedly was the cause for the odd, anxious feeling he was suffering from. Quickening his pace, he dropped his book bag to the floor and slid into his usual seat beside Draco, noticing immediately that the blonde was also staring oddly at the paper, as if he was struggling to make sense of it. He didn't even look up at Harry's arrival.
"What's so interesting in the Prophet this morning?" Harry asked, while dragging a few slices of bacon onto his plate. Startled, the other smoothed the paper out on the table between them, thrusting one finger at the feature article.
"That. I can't figure out if I should laugh my head off or cancel my subscription," he said, and Harry blinked in confusion, drawing his eyes down to the article. Instantly, he froze, eyes widened as they landed on the headline, where his own 'true' name was displayed in bold, flashing script.
Harry Potter: The New Dark Lord?
By Tabitha Tiddle
~As ridiculous as it may sound to some, the Ministry of Magic issued a statement today, proclaiming their belief that our beloved Harry Potter has become a Dark Wizard. Ever since Potter's disappearance a month ago, the Ministry has been desperately investigating the issue at hand. As was stated in an earlier press release, Potter disappeared without a trace, after apparently removing himself from school on the basis of a family emergency. To this reporter it seems rather odd that at the same time, rumors of the rising of the 'Serpent's Children' have been popping up all across Europe. The Ministry seems to agree, claiming that Harry Potter is, indeed, a Serpent's Child and a servant of You-Know-Who. If that is not enough to convince even Potter's most stalwart fans, then there is plenty more where that came from. Just today, the Ministry released quite a few facts regarding Potter that until now, were deemed too 'controversial' for the public ear. According to Minister Fudge, Potter not only shares the Dark Lord's ability to speak Parseltongue, but also suffers from visions of You-Know-Who and his Deatheaters. Apparently, the two even possess twin wands. The Minister also hinted that Potter may have had a hand in the escape of the wanted murderer, Sirius Black, and of the death of Cedric Diggory. The whereabouts of Potter are still unknown, though Minister Fudge informed us that a search of Hogwarts School has already been performed, and that they have several remaining leads to look into.~
All thought of breakfast was immediately forgotten. Struggling to regain control of his shocked expression, he blinked and shook his head, though he was unable to tear his gaze away from the blaring headline.
"Quite a shocker, eh? Personally, I think it's all crap. The day Potter goes dark I'll transfer to Hufflepuff!" Draco declared, and Harry found himself to be strangely relieved that at least his sworn enemy knew better than to trust Fudge. Although, he found himself desperately hoping that Draco wasn't the only one, as it would be too strangely ironic if a wanna-be dark wizard was the only one who believed he hadn't gone dark.
"Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, Fudge is an idiot," Harry offered, and was preparing to slip from the table when a lone owl suddenly flew down from the ceiling, it's dark feathers glinting brightly in the morning light. Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry noticed Draco suddenly turn a shade paler. Then, when the owl swooped down and dropped a reddish scroll atop Draco's head, he understood just why Draco's eyes had suddenly taken on the appearance of a frightened lamb. It was a Howler.
Harry had barely blinked once before the blonde had disappeared from the table at a mad dash, and only barely caught sight of the hall doors slamming shut behind him. A few Gryffindors laughed at the display, and at the sound of muffled yelling coming from the hall a moment later, but most were still too preoccupied with the paper to have noticed anything. Therefore, Harry took that moment to slip silently out a side door, determined to put as much distance as he could between that newspaper article and himself. Almost unconsciously he started back toward the dungeons, nursing a fragile hope that perhaps his father was lurking about somewhere.
However, even with the day's events so far, things proved that he was indeed in for one hell of a day when he heard several sets of heavy footsteps follow him down a rarely used corridor. At the end of the corridor was one of the many staircases that connected the castle's upper levels to the dungeons, but there weren't any rooms or other exits from the short hallway. The footsteps quickened, and his hand nervously fell to the wand in his pocket, fingers wrapping around the smooth wood. Quickening his own pace, he silently cursed when he heard the footsteps break into a run.
Suddenly, something latched onto his robe and jerked him backward, someone's rough hands tossing him against the wall, his shoulders connecting painfully with the stone and sending his books crashing to the floor. Before he had the chance to even think about pulling out his wand, two sets of hands latched onto his arms and slammed him against the wall a second time, pinning him firmly in place and knocking his head roughly against the sharp stone. Setting his face into the harshest glare he could muster despite the sharp pain at the back of his head, he found himself staring down five strange seventh years. One was a Ravenclaw, while the other four were equally composed of Gryffindor and, surprisingly, Hufflepuff.
"Oh look, the little Snake is all alone today," a dark haired Gryffindor, who he vaguely remembered being named 'Timothy,' taunted as he stepped in front of him, arms crossed dutifully.
"How observant of you, now if you'll excuse me-" Harry began, and struggled unsuccessfully to jerk free of the restraining arms. Sometimes he really hated being thin, muscle did have its uses after all.
"I think not. We want to have a few words with you, Snape," the Hufflepuff pinning his right arm said, though it wasn't nearly as intimidating as it was intended to be.
"Oh?" Harry asked, raising one eyebrow in mock curiosity. His captors only stared back angrily.
"We're sure you've seen the morning paper, I doubt someone like you could pass up on the front page," Timothy spat, stepping forward to stand directly in front of him. Despite the fact that Harry was one of the taller boys in his year, Timothy virtually towered over him, his shadow blocking out most of the dim light.
"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Harry growled, and Timothy cocked a lopsided smile, his eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms, absently tapping his wand against one (large) bicep.
"We know you're up to something. We've been watching you, you know," the Ravenclaw suddenly spoke up, stepping forward to stand next to his ally. Harry had never met the boy before, but the impression he got at first glance was that the boy really looked like some sort of rodent. His eyes were tiny and narrowed, with a sharply pointed nose that wouldn't have looked at all strange if it had been accompanied by a set of whiskers. "First, you show up out of the blue and make fast friends with Harry Potter himself, hang out with his friends, hit it off perfectly with all the teachers—and then Harry up and disappears without a trace. We think that it's more than a little suspicious…." The boy continued, crossing his arms in an attempt to look menacing, despite his considerably shorter stature.
"And…?" Harry said boredly, though he could feel his own fear rising considerably in the back of his mind. His eyes kept flicking toward one end of the hall and the other, hoping desperately that someone would stumble along before he got beaten up too badly.
"And we know you and your Death Eater father have something to do with it, maybe even that Malfoy brat too," Timothy finished, lips curling back from gritted teeth. Harry bared his own teeth in response, his rising panic and fear igniting his anger.
"And I think you're a fool with a grudge against Slytherin that has far too much time on his hands," he growled, watching Timothy's startled expression with no little amount of satisfaction. "Real Gryffindor of you, you know. Whatever happened to the 'chivalry' your house is supposed to be so famous for?" he spat, and Timothy's face flushed crimson, his eyes growing wild with anger. Oh damn, Harry thought, perhaps making that last comment wasn't the brightest idea….
"As if you'd know, Snake. Why, I bet the moment we leave you'll go running off to your father…." The Ravenclaw taunted, and Harry thought for sure that he'd felt his own face turn red with fury. Only vaguely did he realize that the hallway had suddenly gotten just a little bit darker, but his mind chose to ignore it, focusing instead on the jeering five surrounding him.
"And when have you ever seen me do that? For someone who's supposedly 'watching' me, you sure haven't been very observant!" he barked, jerking forward against the hands that still restrained him.
"And what, may I ask, is going on here?" a deep, and thankfully familiar voice suddenly rumbled from nearby, and everyone instantly froze. For there, towering over Timothy himself and wearing the darkest expression Harry had seen in a long time, was Professor Snape.
"N-nothing, Sir-," Timothy stuttered, and the restraining hands dropped out of sight. Instantly they all wore the expressions of the perfectly innocent students, having done nothing at all despite having been caught in the act. Harry only rubbed the back of his head with a wince and watched with amusement as his father bore down on them, having suddenly discovered yet another perk to having the infamous Potions master for a father.
"Really? It looks like something to me," Snape hissed, his arms crossed and long fingers tapping against his arm in irritation. His eyes were flashing darkly, looking very much like a predator staring down its prey. "In fact, it looks to me as if you were harassing my son in a dark hallway. Dare I even begin to guess as to what you had in mind?"
"We were just heading to the d-dorms, sir," stuttered one of the Hufflepuffs, now huddling, terrified, against the wall. Harry snorted and crossed his arms, turning his head away from the pitiful sight. His pride felt considerably crushed that the frightened boy beside him had only moments before had him pinned to a wall. Of course, the fact that he himself used to be terrified of the Potions master served to make it at least a little better.
"Then I feel I must enlighten you to the fact that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff dorms are that way? Surely, after seven years even your dimwitted lot would realize that," Snape growled, his lips curving into a faint, malicious smile. He took another slow, silent step forward, causing the five the retreat further.
"M-must have got turned around, Sir, w-we'll be on our way…." Timothy said, and they immediately began backing up quickly, preparing to whirl around and make a mad dash for the exit.
"Oh no you don't," Snape hissed, and to Harry it looked as if he'd frozen the lot with his stare alone. "I expect to see you all in my office as 5 o'clock sharp. We're going to have a delightful little meeting with your House Heads to discuss this…incident," he spat, then uncrossed his arms and waved one hand in the air dismissively, "Also, fifty points shall be taken from each of you. Well? What are you all standing around for? GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" he roared, startling them so badly that a Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw fell to the ground, before madly scrambling to their feet before dashing off. Snape stared after them with a pleased smile on his face, looking for the entire world as if he'd just gotten his birthday wish.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you," Harry commented as he pushed away from the wall, rubbing his left shoulder absently where it had connected with the wall. His father widened the smile and looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, one hand raised to his chin in thought.
"Why yes, I do believe I did," he said, and turned to face him fully, the smile slowly fading into a look of concern. "Now, what was that all about?" he asked, and Harry waved one hand idly as he bent to pick up his fallen books.
"Oh, they were just accusing me of having something to do with my own disappearance," he muttered in reply, avoiding his father's curious gaze as the man bent to help him retrieve his things.
"You saw today's Prophet then?" he asked, one hand closing over a particularly ragged looking old book.
"Yeah. It looks like I'm officially a Dark Lord now," Harry said with a laugh, turning a bright gaze to his father's darker one.
"They're up to something, there's no doubt about that," Snape commented darkly as he rose from the floor, staring at the book with narrowed eyes, "Where did you get this?" he asked in an odd voice.
"That? Dumbledore gave it to me the last time I was in the Hospital Wing. It's just a collection of short stories, but I really like a few of them," Harry replied as he stood up, having shoved the last of his books back inside his bag. His father narrowed his eyes again as he glanced at it, turning it over in his hands before handing it back. Then he shook his head as if to clear it of a thought and looked up again, his expression no less serious yet lightened considerably.
"Would you come down to my office after dinner tonight? There are a few things I'd like to talk to you about," he asked as Harry took the book.
"Sure," Harry replied, blinking in confusion, "Nothing's…happened, has it?" he asked, eyes widening with worry. The day was already bad enough as it was, there couldn't possibly be more, could there?
"No, not yet anyway," Snape answered with a sigh, "And I fully expect you to tell me everything that happened just now, as well. For the moment though, I believe you have a class starting soon, yes?"
"Yeah, Transfiguration. I'll see you in class later then?" Harry said, shrugging his book bag up across his shoulder.
"Alright. But I don't want you taking any more shortcuts like this until we've had that talk," he said sternly, leveling a purposeful glare at his son. Harry hung his head with a sigh, but nodded in agreement. He didn't really feel like chancing any more dark, empty hallways at the moment anyway. One brush with the wrong side of a fist was more than enough for the day. After checking his watch and heading in the opposite direction of his father, he quickened his face and smiled lightly. He really wanted to know what his father had in store for his five attackers….
----------end 38 part I---------------
Notes:: I'm not real happy with the way this turned out…but I couldn't figure out any other way to do it. : ( Again, sorry this took so long, but the next half will be out in a day or so.
Next Chapter—Harry, Ron and Hermione get dragged off to the Slytherin Quidditch practice, Sev has something to discuss with Dumbledore, and takes a step in the direction of the overprotective parent. TaTa!