The Granger Son
Harry; Hermione; Dr. Grangerx2
Rated T
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters from the franchise. That honor belongs to JK Rowling
The Granger Son
Chapter 15
The new school term had started, and Harry and Hermione were officially Fifth Years. It should have been another exciting time for them school-wise, only except that it wasn't. In fact, things really weren't going to great at Hogwarts, starting with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. It wasn't a surprise whenever there was a new professor for DADA, but this one just took the cake for everyone. The professor was Ministry appointed Dolores Umbridge, her being in the position as assigned by the Minister himself. Things already were going downhill when it became apparent that the students weren't going to be taught how to properly defend themselves at all. What made it worse was when she began assigning unjust detentions, starting with Harry for daring to say Lord Voldemort had returned and insisting he wasn't lying about it. Not that many people believed him, due to the Daily Prophet and the Ministry denying the Dark Lord's return; only Harry and his friends believed him. What made the situation entirely worse was that Dumbledore was doing absolutely nothing to stop her because of Minister Fudge being on his neck with Umbridge as a mouthpiece.
Dumbledore was another thing that was causing Harry's—and by extension, Hermione's—year to not start off great. The old wizard was still angry at him, as well as McGonagall, for outsmarting him in his attempt to remove Harry from his home. With the older witch now being his legal guardian, Dumbledore had no power or jurisdiction in what Harry did or stayed outside of Hogwarts. Harry had thought it was just him, but when his sister had mentioned receiving a bit of a cold shoulder from their Headmaster as well, he knew it wasn't just him. The man had been a mentor to him for his first four years at Hogwarts, but now was ignoring him or brushing him off completely. In a way, Harry wasn't as bothered by that as he thought he would be, but he would like it more if the old man stepped up as Headmaster and dealt with what was happening to not only him and Hermione, but everyone else as well.
The one major thing that was bothersome, for Harry at least, was that he was feeling constantly angry. It was strange to him, as he wasn't a normally angry person, had no reason to be unless provoked, so for that emotion to rule him nearly every day was maddening. Not only that, but Voldemort was seemingly infiltrating his dreams, making them more like nightmares and causing him to dream about past events, visions of memories that haunted him. He'd dream of Voldemort having Cedric Diggory killed, and how felt so helpless as to help him, as well as Dementors trying to kill him and Sirius Black, and Voldemort being reborn. He always woke up in a cold sweat and unable to fall back asleep. It was ridiculous, and he really hoped he wasn't going mad.
One night, Harry was sleeping in his dorm in Slytherin Dungeon, but not peacefully. Once again, he was having a nightmare, his mind plagued by visions and memoires of Cedric's death, Voldemort's rebirth, etc. However, it was worse than before, and he began to thrash slightly in his sleep, murmuring in his sleep as he dreamt of Voldemort torturing him. When the evil wizard made to kill his family, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him. With a shout, Harry sat up in bed and panting, his hair plastered to his forehead as he did. He looked around to take in as much of his dorm room as he could without his glasses before looking at the hand that was still on his shoulder. Following the arm, Harry looked at the blurry form of Draco, the blond wizard having woken him up.
Draco looked at him in concern and asked, "Are you alright, Harry?"
Panting slightly, Harry ran a hand down his face and nodded replying, "Yes, I'm okay. Um, did I wake you?"
"No, I was already awake; just doing some reading."
"What time is it?"
"It's two in the morning." Draco looked at his friend as the other boy settled back down in his bed. Harry had begun having his nightmare for about an hour, though it always seemed to calm down, so he never woke him. Him thrashing in his sleep however worried him, and afraid he'd hurt himself or his magic suddenly lash out, he had decided to wake him. Frowning, Draco asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Shaking his head, Harry answered, "No, I don't. I just want to go back to sleep right now. And you should too, Draco. We do have to get up for classes in a few hours."
Draco nodded, though he was still worried for his friend. Putting his book away, he blew out the candle and settled into bed, prepared to get at most five hours' worth of sleep before having to get up for the next day. As for Harry, he settled into bed to go back to sleep as well. Or rather, he tried to, but was afraid he'd be plagued by nightmares once again.
Leaving Defense Against the Dark Arts, every single students were all in agreement of being completely and utterly annoyed. Once again, they hadn't learnt a damn thing, and believed they wouldn't for the entire year. Hermione walked with Harry, Draco, Daphne, and Blaise out of the Dungeons, the five of them deciding to go to the courtyard for a bit of their free period. Giving a frustrated huff, the brunette stated, "This is just ridiculous. We still haven't learned a single Defense spell for our Fifth Year curriculum like we're supposed to. And they expect us to take an O.W.L. on the subject?"
Daphne nodded in agreement saying, "I know, it is frustrating. I mean, I'm not a big fan of DADA, but even I would like to learn something."
"I know. Even that Moody imposter would be better than this," Draco replied as he took a seat on a bench next to the blonde witch, Hermione on her other side.
"Yeah, or Professor Lupin again," Harry said. He was really fond of the werewolf, glad to have gotten to know him. Professor Lupin knew he was adopted by a loving family and loved them a lot, and had no problem with that as he was well taken care of. But it was through him that he learned a bit more about his birth parents, particularly his mother while Sirius told him more about his father. He knew he could confide in the werewolf, which was why he had no issue telling him of his adoptive status as a Granger. Not only was he great as a person, he was a fantastic teacher and outside of the previous year, learned more Defense than ever in his Third Year. He'd give anything to get him back as a professor.
Daphne threw some of her blonde hair over her shoulder before suddenly declaring, "We need to do something about Umbridge. We can't continue like this if we are to be prepared for something that is to come."
Blaise, who was been sitting on the ground by Hermione's feet, looked at Daphne before asking, "Yeah, but what can we do?"
Hermione looked down at him before saying, "I don't know, but if the teachers aren't going to do something, then we as the students must."
A knock on her office door pulled Minerva's attention from her work for a moment before she went back to it, giving entrance to whoever was knocking. The door opened and shut before a familiar voice greeted, "Hello Professor."
Putting her quill down, Minerva looked up at Harry with a kind smile before saying, "Hello, Harry. How have you been?"
Harry shrugged as he took a seat in front of the Transfiguration professor's desk before answering, "Not too great, Professor. I'm not having much of a good school year so far."
"How do you mean?"
Deciding to just lay it all out, Harry began to tell his guardian all about his dilemmas, informing her of everything going on for not just him, but his friends and the student body as a whole. When he finished, he said, "So, I've come to you seeking advice. Do you know what I should do?"
Minerva sat quietly for a moment, taking in everything Harry had told her, before saying, "Unfortunately, I cannot help you in concerns to Professor Umbridge. I myself would like to go to toe-to-toe with her over a few things, but I know I can't. However, concerning your dreams, I would suggest going to see Severus for help."
"Professor Snape?" Harry asked, blinking in shock. Looking off to the side with an unsure look on his face, he said uncertainly, "I don't know, professor. I mean, Professor Snape doesn't like me. And knowing he's one of my legal guardians makes it even weirder for me to ask, even if he doesn't know he is."
"Harry, it isn't you that Severus dislikes; it is who you look like. I am positive he knows you aren't anything like James, and he will help you if you seek it. He won't turn you away, especially with him being your Head of House. Just give him a chance, and you'll receive the help you want."
Harry still wasn't too sure about that, but he trusted McGonagall, and knew the woman wouldn't steer him wrong. Nodding, he thanked her and left her office, going back to Slytherin Dungeon before curfew hit. He still wasn't too sure about asking Snape for help, but he'd consider it if he had another horrible dream. Hopefully he wouldn't have one any time soon.
Waking up panting once again, Harry sat up quickly as he thought of the dream he had just had. Well, it should have been a dream, but it seemed more like a vision. In it, he seemed to be attacking Arthur Weasley and harming him greatly. The point of view was odd, but he quickly deduced it was from the point of view of a snake, and that a snake was attacking the Weasley patriarch. Not only that, but he was sure that Voldemort had infiltrated his mind and had wanted him to see him attacking Mr. Weasley.
Having had enough, Harry knew what he must do. Getting out of bed, he put his glasses on before he made his way out of the dorm and Common Room, walking quickly down the dark, dank corridor of the Dungeons. Stopping in front of a door that was Snape's private office, Harry knocked rapidly on it, anxiously waiting for his brooding Head of House to answer. Eventually, the door was answered and Professor Snape appeared in the doorway of his private office. The man had a very annoyed expression on his face, but it quickly disappeared seeing the panicked look on his student's face. Before he could even ask what was wrong, Harry began talking, hurriedly telling him what he had seen in his dream and how real it seemed, before stating that Mr. Weasley needed help and quickly.
Understanding the urgency, Snape told him to stay put in his office while he went to the Headmaster's Office to inform Dumbledore. The man swiftly left his office, the door closing behind him as he left the bespectacled boy alone. Taking a seat, Harry waited patiently and anxiously for Professor Snape to return. As he waited, he couldn't help but think about what McGonagall had said. She had stated that Snape would help him if he just asked, just approached him, and it looked like she had made a good call.
It wasn't too much longer of a wait before the brooding Potions professor eventually returned, stating that he had told him just in time, as Mr. Weasley was officially getting good help. The snake had, unfortunately, gotten away. Moving around his desk, he took a seat at his desk and settled down before saying, "Now, let us discuss these dreams you are having, Potter. Or should I say, these visions you are experiencing. How long have you been having them? Or is this the first time this has happened?"
Harry looked down at his hands in his lap before looking back up into black eyes. "This is my first time seeing anything like that. But I will admit that I've been having dreams and nightmares of Voldemort for a while now. And, for whatever reason, I'm feeling angry all the time when I know that I'm not. I went to Professor McGonagall for help, and she said that I should approach you about them and what I could do. She also said that I could trust you with this, so I came to you."
Severus stared at Potter blankly, though it was only to mask his own confusion. The boy had gone to Minerva and she had suggested he go to him. Why hadn't she suggested for him to go see Albus? Or better, why hadn't the boy gone to the Headmaster with this before now? He made a mental note to ask Minerva about it later. Blinking, he looked at the bespectacled boy as the boy asked, "Is Mr. Weasley really okay?"
"Yes, he'll live."
"That's good. Um…why do you think I saw that?"
"To put it simply, I'd say that you saw that vision because the Dark Lord wanted you to. He wanted you to see that attack to get not only yours, but I would say Professor Dumbledore's attention. I believe he knows everyone is trying to keep his return a secret so no one will be alarmed, something I'm sure will blow up in Fudge's face."
Harry nodded slowly. "Yes, but how can he make me see things like that?"
Severus looked at the fifteen-year-old, taking note of the hint of fear in his green eyes, eyes that looked so much like the boy's mother's. He knew if he kept staring at them, he'd get lost in memories, so he looked off to the side at his shelf of potions. Summoning one of them to him, he answered, "Because you two are somehow linked through the mind, possibly through your scar."
"My scar?"
"Yes, your scar. He was the one who gave it to you, so you two must be linked through it possibly. He lets you see what he wants you to, and he can see whatever it is that you see, think, or suffer from. And right now, I'd say you suffer from exhaustion." He handed him the potion phial. "That is a Dreamless Sleep Potion. Take it so that you can sleep and not worry about having another nightmare when you go back to your dorm. As for keeping the Dark Lord out of your mind, Dumbledore suggests that I teach you a very useful skill known as Occlumency."
Harry blinked, not sure if he had ever heard the term before. "Occlumency, sir?"
"Indeed, and we will begin lessons tomorrow evening after dinner. You are dismissed, Mr. Potter."
Harry stood up with the phial in hand, giving his Head of House a small smile and said, "Thank you, Professor Snape. Good night."
With that, Harry left the older wizard's office and headed back to the Common Room. Severus sighed as soon as he left, standing from his chair, and walking through a hidden opening in the wall of his office. Through the opening, he walked down a hidden corridor that led into his private quarters, a much quicker route to his office than leaving from the main entrance of his quarters to his office. It was how he had heard Potter knocking on his office door.
Entering his private quarters, Severus couldn't help but think that Potter wasn't exactly like his arrogant father like he thought he would be. In fact, he wasn't arrogant at all, something he had taken notice of since he was a First Year in Slytherin. If anything, Potter was more like Lily; it was just unfortunate his father's genes were stronger concerning his looks. Deciding not to dwell on that thought too long, Severus retreated to his bedroom to get some sleep. He'd get up early to not only prepare for classes, but for Potter's private Occlumency lessons the next day as well. But for now, sleep was calling his name, and he was willing to answer.
Author's Note: I hope you all are enjoying this story as it goes along. I also hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and will stay tuned for the next one to come. The next chapter will contain the formation of Dumbledore's Army, but not really, as Dumbledore's name won't be involved. Again, hope you all enjoy this chapter and stay tuned for the next one. Love, SehunsBae37.
