Following the events of Tuesday morning, the week flew past. Harry had been extra busy, between his school workload, plus the extra lessons in the evenings. Augusta had decided to join him on Tuesday evening for politics and Friday evening for History, and given he had Sirius with him on Mondays for Transfiguration and Snape on Sunday and Thursday, Harry only truly had Wednesday and Saturday to do his homework and deal with any paperwork sent over from the Wizengamot or Gringotts.
Given that he was joining Harry for most of his additional lessons, Neville and Harry were growing closer by the day. He was a lifeline for Harry, his sarcastic wit, while surprising, gave Harry some much needed levity. He could honestly say at this point that he trusted Neville with his life.
Ron seemed happy enough to spend time with Harry when he could, and spend time with Ginny, Dean and Seamus when Harry was busy. Surprisingly—but something which Harry was extremely grateful for—he didn't seem mad that Harry was spending more time with Neville. He seemed to understand that he could offer a different kind of support that Harry would need at other times, and he seemed okay with that.
Harry had made sure to spend time with him on Wednesday, when he didn't have any additional lessons, and they'd done homework together before playing a few games of chess, which Ron, of course, obliterated Harry in.
Saturday afternoon arrived faster than Harry had expected, and he found himself waiting for Professor Snape in Myrtle's bathroom beneath his invisibility cloak. He had the Marauder's map open in his hands, and he could see the man approaching quickly. Glancing at the Headmaster's office, he watched the footsteps pace back and forth while he waited.
The Headmaster seemed to be doing a lot of pacing lately. It amused Harry, though of course he'd never admit as much.
When Snape arrived, Harry took off the cloak and opened the entrance to the chamber, gesturing for Snape to go first with a warning to brace himself for landing. He followed behind, using his magic to hold him near the top of the shoot so he could close the entrance before going down the slide.
When he landed at the bottom, instead of the hard landing he'd been expecting, he found it soft, as though a mountain of cushions were there to catch him.
"Thank you," he said to Snape as he stood up and dusted himself off.
Harry led the way through the tunnels, pausing to collect the snakeskin in a pre-charmed extended bag as they went. Snape was practically beside himself with excitement over the skin—which meant he'd swore softly and his eyes were gleaming, which was still the most emotive Harry had ever seen him—and Harry was looking forward to his reaction to the actual Basilisk.
Harry hissed for the door to open, and glanced around the chamber before he led the way inside. He shuddered slightly when he saw the Basilisk, memories of being twelve and facing it with a sword and no hope of living passing through his mind.
Snape dropped to his knees beside it, touching it gingerly with thick gloves to protect his hands.
"Help yourself to whatever ingredients you want from it," Harry offered with a small smile. "I only need enough hide for battle outfits, and to be fair, I've probably already got that."
"You cannot be serious?" Snape asked, turning to look at Harry over his shoulder. "Do you know the worth of even a single Basilisk fang?"
Harry sighed. "I can imagine. The truth is, I have more money than I can spend in ten lifetimes, so if it will bring you happiness, well, have fun. I'm going to go and have a look around the chamber and see if I can find anything else."
"Call me if you need any help," Snape said, turning back to the snake. Harry saw him shake his head and chuckled to himself as he wandered away to the far corner.
He hissed quietly as he ran his hands over the wall, testing with both his touch and his magic for any sign of a door. He knew there had to be something, he just had to find it.
It took almost an hour for him to find it, but eventually, he found a spark of magic in the walls that felt different from the rest, and he ordered it to open in parseltongue. He let out a whoop of joy when a door slid open, alerting Snape that he'd found what he was looking for.
The door seemed to struggle opening, probably because of the many years that had passed since it's abandonment, but it opened enough for Harry to slide through the gap.
He was speechless with what he found inside and he looked around in wonder. How had Voldemort not found these? Surely he'd looked beyond the 'monster' and known there was more here to find? Despite Harry's displeasure in complimenting him, Voldemort, even as a child, had been very intelligent.
There were walls upon walls of bookshelves, filled to the brim with books of all sizes. A desk was pressed back against the furthest wall, and Harry decided to investigate that first, despite the way he was itching to look at the many books.
He opened the drawers one by one. In the first, he found a dagger, which he carefully sheathed and placed in his bag. It would need to be tested for poisons and curses before he even attempted to use it.
In another drawer, he found a pile of parchment with writing on it, and he put that in his bag as well. Turning his attention to the books, he almost died when he saw some of the titles. There were so many different subjects and genres, and he wanted to read them all.
That thought made him chuckle; never before had he wanted more to study. He thought perhaps that learning how ignorant he'd been had spurned him on to want to know everything.
He debated with himself for a moment before deciding that he may as well just take them all. Not only did he not particularly relish the thought of returning to the Chamber, but given Dumbledore's display earlier in the week, there was no saying how long he would be at the school at all.
He expanded the bag further, adding a separate space so that he could keep the books and snake skin separate, before he began stacking the books. Given the sheer volume in the room, it took him another hour to collect them all.
He could have used magic and been done in minutes, but he was worried about damaging the books and magic could be harsh, particularly against old books. Some things, despite the ease of magic, were still best done by hand.
By the time he'd returned to the main Chamber, Snape seemed to be finishing up collecting the ingredients from the basilisk. There was a pile of snake skin left separate from the things he'd collected for his own collection.
"I assume from the sounds of joy I heard that you found something?" he asked, standing up. He wiped the grime from his knees and then shook his head and gave up. He was filthy. Harry would be surprised if he didn't just throw the trousers away, though given house-elf magic, they could probably be salvaged.
"I hit the jackpot," Harry replied with a small smile. "Is this for me?" he asked, pointing at the heap of snake skin.
Snape nodded. "I assumed that you didn't only want battle gear for yourself."
"Thanks," Harry replied. He bent down to load the bag and winced when his back protested with a sharp pain. He was going to have to take a potion when he got back to his trunk before he even thought about putting the books into his personal library.
With the snake skin collected, and Snape seemingly ready to leave, Harry led the way back through the Chamber.
"So, you said you hit the jackpot?" Snape asked, as they walked.
"Books," Harry replied with a small smile. "So many books. That was what took so long, I was collecting them all to take with us. I didn't want to leave them here and then have Dumbledore force me out before I could come back."
"Likely a good idea. After the scene on Tuesday morning, there's no telling how far he'll go to try and gain the upper hand."
Harry nodded. "I know. I thought it was a little strange that the books were still there at all to be honest. Riddle would surely have explored the Chamber, right? It's his heritage."
"Perhaps he thought the Basilisk was the only thing of worth in there," Snape suggested with a small smile. "Not everybody possesses the same curiosity that you do."
When they reached the slide, Harry pulled out a shrunken broom and enlarged it. He sat astride it, and then gestured for Snape to climb on behind him.
Looking a little nervous, Snape did so, gripping at the robes around Harry's hips, and Harry took off, flying them quickly up the flute and back through to the bathroom. He sealed the Chamber once more behind them, and took out both his cloak and his map.
"Dumbledore is still in his office," he said softly, covering himself over with the cloak. "If you want to come and see the books I collected, you're welcome to join me in about an hour. Alex and possibly Sirius will be there."
Snape nodded and left the bathroom quickly. Harry followed suit at a slower pace, ensuring he was completely covered by his cloak as he did. Getting taller was great until he had to hide beneath the cloak. While it had once covered three first years, he had to stoop now, to make sure he was covered completely.
He took the cloak off in a little alcove halfway up to Gryffindor Tower, and when he finally stepped through the portrait hole, he found Ron and Neville waiting on him in the dorm room.
"Did you find anything useful?" Neville asked, arching an eyebrow.
"A monster load of books," Harry replied. "And I brought all of the snake skin as well. It's apparently one of the best materials for battle gear, and there's plenty of it."
Ron wrinkled his nose. "Ew."
Harry snorted. "You don't want one then? It's protective as hell."
"Well, I didn't say that," Ron replied with a grin. "But also, are you going to be all nerdy now and go and be excited over books?"
"Probably," Harry admitted, glancing at his trunk. "Alex is going to come over as well, and tell me if I've missed anything I need to know before the morning."
"Morning?"
"Wizengamot," Harry replied with a shrug. "Should be a short session, unless something has happened, so I'm keeping everything crossed that it is."
"Rather you than me, mate. Mind if I skip out on the book-nerding? Ginny wanted me to practice chasing with her, she's worried she got a bit rusty over the summer."
Harry shook his head. "Of course not. I'm going to need to set the time for tryouts soon, aren't I?"
Ron nodded eagerly, and Harry chuckled. "Okay, uh, next Saturday? Can you put a post up on the notice board and spread the word for me?"
"See, that, I'm your man for, I'll make sure everyone knows about it," Ron agreed with a smile. He got up off his bed, and ruffled Harry's hair on his way out of the dorm, a spring in his step.
"You'll come and help, right?" Harry asked Neville, who nodded with a grin.
"I need a shower," Harry groaned. "Give me twenty minutes and we'll get down to it."
…
"Quite the haul," Alex commented, when Harry was done unloading the books. "And you got the skin as well?"
Harry nodded. "Tons of it. I'll leave it in the bag for you to take to the Goblins, yeah?"
"You know, I'm all for you getting books, but this is going to take forever for us to stack them," Neville complained.
Harry snorted. "I had to take them all off the shelves, how do you think I feel? Come on, the quicker we get started, the quicker we'll be done."
Snape joined them when they were about halfway through, and between the four of them, it didn't take too long to get them all shelves in the trunk library. When they were done, Neville excused himself to do his homework, and Snape seemed happy enough to stay in the library, so Harry and Alex went back into the living space to discuss the Wizengamot.
"Nothing has come to my attention that will take long," Alex admitted, as Dobby served tea and snacks. "You should hopefully be done by eleven, midday at the latest. Has the Headmaster said anything about it?"
Harry shook his head. "He hasn't even looked at me since Tuesday. I must admit, I'm quite enjoying the reprieve. I'll be sad to see it end tomorrow."
Alex snorted. "Unfortunately, it will definitely end. I have no doubt that the Wizengamot will question you about the article in the Prophet."
Harry wrinkled his nose. "Of course they will."
"Just keep calm, stick to the facts, and guide them towards Gringotts if they have any questions," Alex advised softly. "You're doing great, Harry. I think everyone is guilty of forgetting that this is still all new to you. You've far exceeded any expectations I could have possibly had for you."
"He's right."
Harry looked up to see Snape by the door to the living area, a small stack of books under one arm. Harry had already told him he could borrow whatever he wanted from the library. He knew Snape would look after the books as well as Harry ever could.
"Considering the boy I knew before the summer, you really have done exceptionally well these last couple of months, Potter."
Harry smiled tightly. "Thank you."
Alex patted his arm, and then stood up. "I'm going to go, but I'll see you after the Wizengamot, okay? We can meet for lunch before you come back to school."
Harry nodded. "See you tomorrow."
Alex exchanged farewells with Snape before he left. Snape took the seat he'd vacated, and Dobby popped in with more tea, refreshing Harry's cup and pouring Snape a fresh one.
"Are you feeling okay, Potter? You've been quiet this evening."
Harry nodded. "Tired," he admitted. "Everytime I get a win, it feels like I also take three steps back on something else. There's just… a lot going on, and only one of me."
"You have a lot of support. Perhaps more than even you realise."
"I know," Harry agreed. "I do know that. I know one thing though. As soon as this is done, I'm going on a holiday for at least a month and doing nothing but lying on a beach."
Snape snorted. "I give you three days before you're bored out of your mind."
Harry laughed. "Probably. I think three days is generous."
They were silent for a few minutes, and then Snape cleared his throat. "Thank you for taking me down to the Chamber with you. Despite you telling me that Alex asked you not to go alone, I know you very well could have."
"No thanks necessary," Harry replied, shaking his head. "You're the one helping me, really. It was the least I could do."
"I… was very wrong about you, Harry Potter. I'm beginning to realise just how wrong I really was."
"Ahh, I've been a brat over the years," Harry replied. "And I'm sure that me being James' son can't have helped anything. I guess it's nice to know that you're seeing me now though." Snape nodded and Harry grinned cheekily. "Think we'll ever be friends?"
Snape chuckled. "I think it's less impossible now than it was a few weeks ago."
"I'll take that," Harry replied.
"I should go. Thank you for the books, I'll return them when I've finished them."
"Take your time," Harry said, waving him off. "And feel free to exchange them whenever you want. I trust you not to mess my trunk up when I'm not here."
Snape nodded. He paused at the fireplace. "I think, when we're alone, or rather, with people we trust, you may call me Severus."
"Maybe you'll start calling me Harry too?" Harry asked, tilting his head hopefully.
"I will do my best. Harry. Goodnight."
"Night," Harry replied, watching him leave. Huh. That was… unexpected. Not unwelcome though, he thought, running a hand through his still damp hair.
He knew he should go to bed, but the call of the new books was too strong and he padded through to the library to pick a book. He could read it for a little while. One in particular had caught his eye; he thought perhaps, it might help with removing a certain tattoo.