Chapter 16 Growing Pains
A/N *Quotes from the book set off*
Something was going on. At first, it had just been the boy and his little friends, Weasley and Granger. Things got very strange when Draco Malfoy got into the mix. It was no secret that there was a rivalry of sorts between Harry and Draco. With how different the two boys were and how much they had in common, that was to be expected. Severus didn't understand how Draco had come to be mixed up in one of Harry's schemes.
In his first-year potions class that Friday, Severus's curiosity was peaked when Weasley was not there. Harry avoided even looking at him. Granger's knuckles were white with how tightly she was gripping her cauldron's sides, and Draco looked livid. Whatever had been happening had come to a head, and Severus was determined to get to the bottom of it.
"Mr. Potter, you will stay after class," he intoned.
The only response from the boy was a nod. He noticed Draco's smirk and Granger's grimace. Severus was wondering what in Merlin's name was going on. As the first years quickly cleaned up and skittered out, Granger whispered something in Harry's ear. Severus saw Draco lingering behind under the premise of looking for something in his bookbag.
"Lost something, have you, Mr. Malfoy?" Severus drawled. "I would hate for you to be late to lunch."
"No, Sir," Draco answered reluctantly but politely, closing the bag and moving toward the door. "I've found it."
"Good. Be off then before I take points for lingering."
Draco looked surprised. Severus rarely took points from his own House, especially in front of another House. He quickened his pace with one last glare at Harry and closed the door a bit louder than he needed to on the way out. Severus grimaced.
With a deliberate swoop, Severus descended on Harry's station. The boy still hadn't looked up. He was sitting on the stool in front of the Potions table, hunched over his cauldron. Expecting defiance or fear, Severus felt his heart touched slightly when the boy looked utterly defeated. He steeled himself. Whatever the children were involved in was serious, and it wouldn't do to go soft on them.
"You are going to tell me what is going on, and you are going to tell me now," Severus demanded sternly.
Sad green eyes met Severus's dark ones. Harry looked like he was near tears. Despite the emotions that were obviously overwhelming him, the boy stayed silent. This did nothing to lighten his guardian's mood.
"Now!" Severus barked.
"I'm sorry," Harry whispered in a voice so low that Severus could barely hear it. "I didn't know what else to do. I was only trying to help, I swear."
"Help who, Harry?" Severus asked. "What are you talking about?"
"I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt!" Harry said, much more loudly this time.
Severus was not only more confused now, but he was also worried. Harry did not typically lose control of his emotions. Whatever he was participating in seemed to be troubling him more than ordinary mischief. Usually, an eleven-year-old's life would not be much of a concern, but this was Harry Potter. Severus had learned to expect the ridiculous, the extraordinary, and the downright impossible.
"Who got hurt, Harry?" Severus asked, trying to keep his voice gentle and his impatience down.
The boy looked like he was trying to decide whether to answer or not. The look on Severus's face must have convinced him that it was time to spill. Patience was only going to hold out so long. As far as Severus was concerned, he had played the gentle and patient guardian card long enough. He was Hogwarts's most feared professor for a reason. He was sure that the glare he was sending Harry's way could melt wax, and the miscreant was starting to crack.
"Ron," Harry said in a hoarse voice. "Norbert bit him."
"Who is Norbert?" Severus ground out. He knew that he was not going to like the answer.
Harry's face showed plainly that he was aware too that Severus would not like the answer. He gulped and looked down at his hands, apparently just noticing he had been wringing them violently. He rubbed them against his sides. Trails of sweat appeared on his black school robes.
"Hagrid's dragon," Harry breathed.
"What?" Severus roared. "Hagrid has a dragon. Hagrid has a dragon, and you went near it."
The last four words were spoken slowly and deliberately so that each one became its own dooming sentence. Severus glared at the boy and tried to keep his temper, resisting the urge to pick the child up and shake some sense into him. The children had been tending to a dragon. They had a dragon, and it had bitten one of them. The idea was making Severus lightheaded.
Biting his lip, Harry looked at Severus with large, tear-filled eyes. "I'm sorry, Sir. I know I should have told you."
"You absolutely should have told me," Severus said through gritted teeth. "How long have you known about this blasted dragon?"
"About three weeks, Sir," Harry replied, looking down.
"Three weeks!" Severus shouted. "You have been lying to me for three weeks?"
Harry whipped his head around. "Lying?"
"Yes, lying. You have been avoiding me. You've missed meals. You were even almost late to class last week. You have not told me about this when you know that Hagrid is not supposed to have that dragon. You know very well that you have been lying, young man. It is a lie of omission not to tell me in the first place, and if I ever asked you where you were or what you were doing during that time, you most certainly did not tell me the truth."
Severus was livid. He had thought that he had developed some semblance of trust with the boy during this time. He had been working hard to be considerate and bend some of his rigid ways. The brat betraying his trust and keeping a secret of this magnitude from him was frustrating and even hurtful. Severus never considered himself an emotional man, but he was flustered by it.
"What are you going to do, Sir?" Harry asked. There were now tears streaming down his face.
With a sigh, Severus conjured a handkerchief and handed it to Harry. The boy took it without a word and wiped his tears. It was clear that the issue of trust would have to wait for later. There was a more pressing concern.
"You said that Weasley was bitten?" Severus asked.
"Yes, Sir," Harry nodded. "On his hand. Norbert is a good dragon, but he's growing so fast. It was an accident! Ron didn't tell anyone at first. He didn't want to get in trouble. But yesterday …"
"Yesterday what?"
"Last night, he went to the hospital wing. It was getting too bad, turning green," Harry explained.
Throwing his head back, Severus looked at the ceiling in silent prayer for patience. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well, he went to the hospital wing," Harry said. "I didn't know what to do. Madam Pomfrey …"
As his voice trailed off, Harry looked down to avoid Severus's gaze. It seemed to finally be occurring to the little menace that he was in over his head and should have long come to his guardian for help. Clearly, trust had not been established as much as Severus had thought.
"Can you help him?"
"Let's go," Severus said.
The two used the grate in Severus's office to go to the hospital wing. Severus did not want to lose any time. He could have brought an antivenom with him, but it would be better to look at the wound and then the dragon first and then brew one himself. He had some questions for Poppy.
"Madam Pomfrey!" Severus called the minute they stepped out of the grate in her office.
"Honestly, Severus. Must you shout?"
"Well, it would seem, Madam, that time is of the essence. I have just been informed that you have in your care a child injured with a dragon bite," Severus practically spat at her.
"What?" Madam Pomfrey said. "Dragon, you say. He said he was bitten by a dog. Nonsense. I thought it was a Doxy! No wonder it's not responding to treatment. I knew that wound didn't look right." She muttered to herself, walking away.
The patient in question lay in a bed in the far corner of the hospital wing. His face was so pale that his freckles and red hair stood out even more. He appeared to be in a feverish sleep. His hand was wrapped in a bandage, but Severus vanished it and inspected the wound, where the bite marks were oozing green venom. Waving his hand, he conjured a vial and took a sample of the pus.
"You're lucky you told me when you did," Severus said gravely to Harry. "Much longer, and your friend would have died. The dragon might be young, but the poison is spreading through his veins."
With a gulp, Harry looked down at the prone body on the bed. He looked like he was ready to faint. Severus left him to his emotions. He needed to face the consequences of his foolishness. Harry might not be the only one in this situation, but he had made choices that had led to disastrous results when there had other options. The boy needed to learn that he was no longer alone; he had someone he could depend on now.
They trudged down to Hagrid's hut in silence, Harry walking as if he was facing a death sentence. Severus himself had had precious few friends at that age. He could understand how Harry was feeling. It was never pleasant to have to do the right thing when it meant betraying confidence.
"Come here, Harry," Severus said gently.
Reacting to the lack of sternness in Severus's demeanor for the first time since he'd called him out in potions, the boy immediately came up to his guardian. He leaned his forehead against Severus's chest. Knowing his ward needed the calm reassurance, he let him remain there for a few minutes, gently tapping him on the shoulder.
"I understand, Harry, I truly do," Severus consoled. "You must remember, however, that Hagrid is an adult. He has made some choices here that were improper and dangerous and downright illegal. He never should have gotten you involved in this."
Severus could feel Harry nodding. He leaned back and looked into the boy's eyes. "Tell me what you are worried about."
"Will Ron be alright?" Harry whispered.
"He will," Severus nodded. "I need to see this dragon to make sure that I know what species it is so that I can brew the antivenom. Then Mr. Weasley will be fine. It will only take a few hours for the potion."
Harry nodded, looking relieved.
"Would you like to help?" Severus asked.
"Yes, Sir!" Harry perked up at the thought.
"Very well," Severus decided. "I will excuse you from your afternoon classes to work on this with me. We will get the sample, have lunch, and then make the potion. This is a one-time thing, though, Harry. You understand that? I am not going to make it a habit of taking you from classes to work on special potions just because you are my ward."
"Of course, Sir!"
Nodding, Severus started back toward Hagrid's hut. He stopped when he realized that the boy was not following. Turning around, he looked at Harry and raised his eyebrows.
"He'll be mad," Harry said sadly. "He'll be mad, I told."
"Harry," Severus said in a slightly scolding tone. "He has to know he can't keep the dragon."
"Oh, he knows," Harry said. "Charlie's going to come to get it."
"Charlie Weasley?" Severus asked. "How? When was this arranged?"
When Harry looked down, Severus knew that there was something amiss. He gave the boy a stern look to remind him that he would brook no further foolishness. The time for keeping secrets was long past.
"We wrote to him," Harry admitted. "We knew Hagrid couldn't keep it. It was growing too big, so fast! So, I remembered Charlie works with dragons, and we wrote a letter. Charlie said he'd take him to his reserve."
Severus crooked a finger, and Harry came closer to him. "How were you planning to get the dragon to the reserve?"
The boy looked at his feet.
"I see."
Turning back toward the hut, Severus gestured for the boy to follow. That was a problem that would definitely have to be resolved. He could only imagine what lackadaisical scheme the trio and Hagrid would come up with. It was now becoming clearer where Draco Malfoy fit into this whole mess. The blonde Slytherin loved dragons.
A very chagrined Hagrid showed off his baby Norwegian Ridgeback and told Severus a very suspicious story of a card game in a pub. It also made Severus's blood run cold when Hagrid mentioned his drunken discussion of the three-headed dog Fluffy with the hooded stranger. None of this could be good, and Severus had a guess who the stranger was.
One problem at a time. With a sample of the pure venom from "Norbert," Severus and Harry went to Severus's private lab. They started brewing the antivenom after a quick lunch of sandwiches. Although Severus did most of the problematic parts, he allowed Harry to assist with chopping, slicing, stirring, and putting the ingredients in the cauldron in some instances. The boy was puffed up with pride to be involved in a critical potion, but he was also solemn about the need to brew medicine to save his friend.
As soon as the potion had cooled, they took it through the Floo to the hospital wing and administered it. There was some improvement in the boy's fever right away. Mr. Weasley would have to remain overnight, but Severus was confident in a full recovery. Harry asked to stay in the bed next to him, but Severus vetoed the request. He knew the boy was feeling guilty, but he didn't want him to stew in it.
The next big problem was getting rid of the dragon. The children had concocted a ridiculous plan to sneak out to the astronomy tower at midnight. It made Severus half furious and half terrified to think of it. There were so many things that could have gone wrong. So, he called on Minerva McGonagall in her office.
"Tell her what you, Weasley, and Granger have got cooked up," Severus ordered coolly.
The boy looked at his feet before drawing on his Gryffindor courage and answering. He told her the plan, and Severus got to enjoy the look of horror and fury on someone else's face for a change. Then he sat back and waited for the explosion.
"Well, Mr. Potter," Minerva griped, "I can't take points for that preposterous plan, but I can certainly take them for hiding a dragon and sneaking out at all hours to visit it!"
"But Professor," Harry protested, "it wasn't even after hours most of the time."
Severus glared at him. "Meaning that you were out after or before curfew some of the time?"
Realizing what he had let slip, Harry bit his lip and looked down.
"That will be twenty points from each of you, Mr. Potter," Minerva informed him. "You will also serve detention when Mr. Weasley is well. I will send a letter informing Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley's parents of their infractions. You obviously will not need that." She sent a glance Severus's way.
Harry just nodded. He looked from Minerva to Severus as if waiting for the ax to fall. The real problem was still to come. There was a baby dragon to dispose of.
"You are not to go nowhere near that dragon anymore," Minerva ordered.
"Professor …," Harry started to interrupt, but the look on Severus's face cut him off.
"Absolutely not, Mr. Potter. If Professor McGonagall had not said it, I most certainly would have. You can rest assured that you and I will be having our own discussion about the events of recent weeks. You will find out the other conditions then, but for now, you are not going anywhere near Hagrid's hut," Severus said firmly. "Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir."
"In case it is not also obvious, you are also not to be anywhere near the astronomy tower at midnight, or anywhere else that we might happen to decide is to be the dragon's sendoff spot," Severus added.
Looking deflated, Harry nodded. When Severus glared at him, he added, "Yes, Sir."
"Thank you, Minerva," Severus told her. "I am sure you wish to have a discussion with Miss Granger. We will leave you to that. Come, Mr. Potter."
They walked in silence to their quarters. In the short time since Severus had taken guardianship of Harry, he had somehow come to see them that way. He had always lived alone since his parents had died. It was hard to imagine caring about someone else. Yet, there it was.
"Have a seat, Mr. Potter, Severus said, gesturing to the small table and tapping for a tea service to appear.
It had been a long and unusual day, and Severus was exhausted. He wanted to get this discussion over with and put the boy to bed. There was still a dragon problem to solve. When he'd become the boy's guardian, he'd had no idea how much drama would be involved.
"I am disappointed that you did not come to me, Harry," Severus began.
"I know, Sir," Harry said, looking down at his hands. "I just didn't know how to tell you."
"You were afraid that I would be cross? Did you think you would get in trouble if you told me that you had visited Hagrid when he had a dragon?" Severus asked, curious.
There was a pause, and the boy seemed to be thinking about the question. "I don't know, Sir," Harry answered. "I guess I thought you'd forbid me from going to see Hagrid. But my friends were going. I'd miss seeing the dragon."
"I see," Severus sighed. "I appreciate that you were honest with me about that, Harry. I probably would have forbidden you from seeing the dragon, at least without me being there too. I suppose supervised visits might have been arranged."
"Really?" Harry looked chagrined.
"At least until the dragon was gone, it could have been considered, I think," Severus said. "We will never know, Harry, because you were not honest with me. That is really the root of the problem here. Instead of telling me what was troubling you, you avoided me."
"I'm sorry," Harry said.
"I keep hearing that you are sorry, but I do not hear what we are going to do to prevent something like this from happening again," Severus said.
"Oh," Harry said.
"First of all, as you heard, when a student gets into trouble of this nature, the parent or guardian is informed. If I were not here, I would have had a letter from Professor McGonagall like your friends are getting," Severus began.
"Will they get in trouble?" Harry interrupted.
"From their parents?" Severus asked. Harry nodded. "I suppose so. I do not have any control over how other parents act. It is one of the difficulties of raising a child in a boarding school. Unless, of course, you teach at said boarding school." Severus smirked.
"Oh," Harry said.
"You and I are new at this guardianship, and we are still figuring things out, Harry. I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt to a certain extent. There cannot be anything of this nature in the future. I have warned you before. If you engage in dangerous, reckless behavior that puts your life at risk, you will forfeit sleeping in the dorm. The length of time will depend on the infraction. Do you understand?" Severus said sternly.
"Yes, Sir," Harry responded.
By the look on his face, Severus could tell that Harry did not like the idea at all. He knew that he was getting through to the boy. He did not want to be severe, but he wanted to make sure that Harry understood that his actions had consequences.
"Your punishment for this is that I am going to confiscate your broom for one week," Severus said.
The boy gawked at him and then closed his mouth and nodded. Severus knew that Harry's broom was his most prized possession and that it meant more to him than just a broom. It was his relaxation and stress release. However, it had seemed to serve as a good reminder before, and Severus thought that taking it away would get through to the boy.
"Remember that if you are restricted to our quarters, that includes loss of your broom since obviously, you cannot fly here," Severus told him. "This is a less severe punishment because I am trying to help you understand that you can come to me if you need to. I realize you have not had anyone to rely on before."
Watching the boy's face for any signs of resentment, Severus saw none. The boy just nodded. Severus decided that he must just be taking his punishment with good grace, and perhaps he was tired.
"Even though you do not need to, you are more than welcome to sleep in your room here tonight," Severus told him.
"I would like to, Sir, but Hermione is probably worried about Ron," Harry said.
"I see," Severus said. "She does not sleep in your dorm room, though. What can you do for her?"
"We all got in trouble, though," Harry said softly. "I would just kind of like to talk to her about it."
"Very well," Severus said. "Please make sure you sleep well tonight. If you do not, you can tell a prefect or Professor McGonagall. You can come back here if you want to."
"Thank you, Sir," Harry said.
The boy got up and picked up his schoolbag from the table by the door. His steps were slow. He was tired. As he was leaving, Severus called after him.
"Mr. Weasley will be fine."
The next day, Severus met with Minerva and Hagrid to discuss the operation for getting the baby dragon off to Romania. Unfortunately, there was no time to alter plans since the delivery was to take place that night. Hagrid was a mess. Somehow, the oversized groundskeeper had gotten attached to the dragon. It was certainly not cute and cuddly.
They packed it into a crate and cast strengthening charms that Severus only hoped would hold. He prayed Charlie would have something better or at least know his charms. Hagrid packed the crate with rats, brandy, and, of all things, a teddy bear.
Severus ignored Hagrid's blubbering, reasonably confident that the dragon did not think of the gamekeeper as 'mummy. The most challenging aspect of the endeavor was getting a crated dragon through a school full of curious children, even at midnight. Harry and his friends had been sworn to secrecy on pain of dismemberment, but if they were seen by a student out after curfew, all bets were off.
After putting a feather-weight charm on the crate, Severus hovered Norbert in front of him while Minerva walked ahead. The coast was clear as they walked through the entryway, up the marble staircase, and through corridor after corridor. Severus had never noticed how many staircases there were in Hogwarts until he had to carefully hover a crate up and down them in the dead of night.
Suddenly, he saw a motion out of the corner of his eye. His spy senses were clearly honed from years of necessity. Someone was there.
"Minerva," Severus hissed, ducking back around a column with the crate and casting a quick disillusionment charm on them both.
The Gryffindor Head of House shot around the corner and came back with a student by the ear. It wasn't a Gryffindor, though. It was one of his students—Draco Malfoy.
* "Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you —"
"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming — he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on — I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"*
He shook his head as she led the boy off. Severus had to admit that it was easy to dismiss the story of a dragon as preposterous. He was wondering how Draco had known about it in the first place. It would be better to back up Minerva in the morning and just pretend that there was no way that Harry Potter could have ever had anything to do with a dragon. Fortunately, the boy was now asleep in his bed in Gryffindor tower. The near-miss with Malfoy made Severus even more relieved he had caught on to the plan when he did.
After about ten minutes, Minerva came back shaking her head. "Honestly, Severus. He was convinced that Potter was headed this way with a dragon. How did he know?"
"I don't know," Severus said. "In the morning, I am going to tell him that he was tricked."
She nodded, and they resumed their trek up the stairs. The hardest part was the steel spiral staircase in the astronomy tower itself. Severus kept a solid grip on his hover charm, and they got the crate up. Then they perched it on a ledge and waited.
It was peaceful up at the top of the astronomy tower, just Severus, Minerva, and a thrashing crated baby dragon. At least that's all that should have been there. Severus's senses were telling him something was wrong. He pulled out his wand and spun around slowly, reaching out with his senses.
"Hold on to the crate, Minerva," Severus told her in a low voice. "We are not alone up here."
"Are they here already?" She whispered back.
"No, it's not them," Severus answered.
There was something odd about the sensation. The magical signature was familiar. There was more than one, but Severus did not feel that any of them were dangerous or unfamiliar to him. That could only mean one thing.
"That's enough," Severus said sternly. "Show yourself right now, or it's one hundred points. From each of your houses!"
Behind him, Minerva gasped as she realized that somehow there were students up at the top of the astronomy tower with them. Severus folded his arms and gave the space around him his best Slytherin Head of House glare. He had an idea who was there.
"Harry, I think you already know how much trouble you are in," Severus said to the empty space. "Do you really want to make it worse by losing points for Gryffindor?"
"You're just going to take them anyway," a dejected voice said from somewhere to his right.
"I won't if you stop this nonsense right this moment," Severus promised.
Harry appeared, along with Hermione. A shimmering cloth that Severus could remember seeing before was draped across his hand. His hand was also invisible. The child had a blasted invisibility cloak.
"I do not have time to tell you the utter foolishness of this," Severus began.
Since he was interrupted by four broomsticks' appearance, Severus had to save the lecture for later. He confiscated the cloak, though. That was a discussion that would definitely have to happen. Fortunately, the dragon-tamers had a better method of transport than Severus had devised. They rigged a harness and suspended Norbert between them. In less time than seemed possible, the bane of Severus's recent existence was off.
After watching them go, Severus put a hand on Harry's shoulder and escorted him back to their quarters. Minerva was making sure that Granger made it back to hers. However, when they got to the hallway outside Gryffindor Tower, they found Filch with another Gryffindor—Neville Longbottom.
* "Harry!" Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other two. "I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag —"*
Severus could tell that Harry desperately wanted to shut the Longbottom boy up. The child was not known for discretion. Still, Severus could not help but be impressed. He'd always secretly wondered if Alice and Frank's son had inherited any of their moxie. Apparently, he had. Severus eyed the boy in a new light as Minerva ushered them all into her office.
*"I'm disgusted," said Professor McGonagall. "Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions — yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous — and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
The children all hung their heads. Severus had to admire the Gryffindor Head. She was getting around Severus's promise not to take points up on the tower. He had never said anything about her. Harry glanced at Severus, who only stared hard back. He was not going to interfere with this. They were out of bounds, and they knew it.
Severus knew that Harry was barely listening when Minerva clarified that it was fifty points each. The boy's head shot up, and he looked like he was going to protest. The look on Severus's face stopped him. He sat down and put his head in his hands as Minerva continued to scold them. Severus knew this was a hard blow for Minerva. It would put Gryffindor in last place.
There were many things about the House points system that Severus despised. Although he used it, sometimes gleefully, he did not condone bullying in any form. He was well aware that the points system was often nothing more than school-approved—or school-mandated—bullying. The school was punishing the students by proxy, using the other students to do their dirty work. It sickened him. He had been the target of enough bullying in his school days. He often found himself falling into the trap, playing on the power he now had as a staff member. He promised himself he would look out for Harry in the coming days. He would punish his ward himself, but he would be damned if he would look the other way while the student body made him a victim.