Part Two: Breaking The News
---------
I didn't know how I was going to break the news to Ron. He wasn't going to like it. Not one bit. Ron was virulently anti-Slytherin. His hate for the other house was notorious. Harry and I didn't mind them so much, but we avoided the house, because our year was full of people like Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle. Mindless thugs and muggleborn-haters aren't my favorite sorts of people.
I walked into the Gryffindor common room, and the rest of my year ambushed me. Plying me for news, asking what had happened. I matter-of-factly informed them that I had to tell Ron first, and we were going into the boy's dorm, and if they tried to eavesdrop, they would have Snape, Dumbledore, and me to answer to. That shut them up, and they settled down into their seats in the common room as I dragged Ron up the stairs.
"What's this all about?" asked Ron as we walked into the room. "And where did all of Harry's things go?"
"That's what I have to tell you about. And it's a long story, and you'll hate it. You'd better sit down. Now," I ordered, "and don't interrupt my story. If you say one word while I'm telling this, I'll have to tie you to the chair. In fact, I think I'll tie you to the chair now, just in case." Ron looked worried. I muttered a few quiet spells, and Ron was tied to the chair, and unable to open his mouth. "Don't worry. I wouldn't leave you here. Now let me tell you this story.
"Snape called us into his office, and made us bring our trees. Now, we looked them over. To make a long story short, Malfoy and his mother are Harry's closest blood relatives. He's not really related to the Dursleys. The Potter Family is, of course, pureblood through and through. The more surprising thing is Harry's mother's family. She was really a pureblood witch, put with Muggles for safekeeping, in much the same way Harry was, except that everyone who knew was obliviated. Lily's sister was Narcissa Malfoy. And they were actually of the Slytherin Family." Ron looked incredulous. "As to where Harry and his things are, they've been moved to the Slytherin dorms, when a portrait of Salazar Slytherin insisted and Dumbledore agreed with him." I cast heavy silencing spells around the room and unbound Ron before exiting the room and locking it from the outside. I walked down to the common room.
"Now guys, I've locked Ron into the boy's dorm until he's worked his anger out. I've also put some spells on him that will let me know when he's done raging and is ready to come out. As to what happened with Harry, I think you'll have to fid out later. He will need to tell you this himself."
****
I opened my eyes into darkness, and I realized I was in my bed in the Slytherin dormitories, and I groaned to myself. I wondered just how stupid I could get as I got to my feet, outside of the bed. The ceiling was dark and starry, with a moon on the western side of the "sky". I put charms on all of my things that would repel anyone that I didn't invite to touch them. Trunk, bed, clothes, shoes, the odd knickknack the house elves had put on top of my trunk to make it seem more homey. Then I transfigured the blankets inside of my curtains into a neutral tan color. I figured that red wasn't welcome in these dorms anyway.
Then I put up wards on my whole side of the room, not allowing anyone in unless I invited them. Then, I curled up on my bed, and fell back into restless sleep.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
I watched Potter sleep for a while, wondering how he was taking the sudden changes. I decided I could give him some respite from my tongue, at least until he got himself together a bit again. I almost felt bad for him. His friend the Weasel wasn't going to like this. Granger, however, might stand by him. She always seemed to be the better Gryffindor of the pair.
------------
Harry walked into the Great Hall looking pale and drawn as he sat down beside me, not looking at Ron on my other side. I don't think that he knew how Ron was taking it. I hoped, I prayed that Ron wouldn't start screaming at Harry. I should have know that all of my wishes were futile.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, HARRY? YOU LET THEM MOVE YOU TO BLOODY SLYTHERIN!" he screamed in Harry's face, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE A BETTER GRYFFIDOR THAN THAT." Then, his voice got deadly, menacingly quiet, and it was somehow worse than the yelling. "I thought you cared about us more than that. I thought you were more loyal. I thought you were my best friend. I thought that you were a iGryffindor/i. I guess not." And he stalked away.
Harry got up and ran out of the Hall, down towards the dungeons.
****
How could he do that? How the bloody hell could he do that? I ran down intricate pathways, the halls a blur in front of me, turning into progressively smaller side passageways, trying to make sure that no one would find me. Didn't Ron realize that if there was any time I needed him, it was now? I couldn't deal with that.
I finally found a dark corner I could stay in. I slid down the wall, and slumped over, head on my knees. Silent sobs wracked my body. Grieving quietly for the loss of my first friend that was my age, I didn't know what to do. Until I saw Snape standing in front of me, regarding me quietly, lacking a kind of aura of malice and anger that the man usually carried like an awful burden.
/ / / / / / / / / / / / /
The boy noticed me standing across the hall from him, and his body slowly stopped shaking. As soon as he looked me in the eyes, I spoke, without anger or hatred in my voice, "you managed to stumble on the corridor that has my private lab and office. Would you please come into my office?" I opened a door behind me and held it open for Potter to walk in. "Well?" I asked, "Aren't you coming in?"
The boy- no, Potter, dragged himself off of the ground and slouched into my office. I gestured at an armchair placed in front of the desk, and took the seat behind the desk for myself. "What happened back in the Great Hall?" I asked, as gently as you could expect from me.
"Ron can't accept it. He doesn't get that I had no say in any of this. He thinks that I was switched willingly, that I asked for it," Potter deadpanned, "He doesn't understand that I need him more now than I ever have before, that I have no friends in my own House, and that I'm more likely to be killed by one of my own Housemates than I am to be killed by old Voldie." The boy dissolved into sobs again.
I reached over the desk and patted his arm softly. "I promise you, Harry, that you will not be killed in this school while you are under my protection. You know that I have protected you since you came to this school. That will not change, until you do not need my protection any longer."
He looked surprised, and then he sniffled, and said, "I know. I'd be dead now, if it wasn't for you. And I thank you for that. But since when did you call me Harry?"
"Since I decided that you needed reassurance from your own house, and since you will have to wait a while for it from your yearmates, you can get it from me first. As long as we are in these offices, you can call me Severus. Just don't tell anyone else." God help me, I was befriending him. Albus was right, it's hard to be so mean to the boy in private, he seems to feel everything so deeply and profoundly.
****
Snape- no, Severus, was actually being nice to me. I decided to take advantage of the strange offer, and just go with it. "Thank you. Severus," I replied, "would you mind just talking to me for a while? I need to get all of this angst out of my system."
He nodded, and replied, "I will talk to you, as long as you don't mind doing the talking in my lab. I am in the middle of a potions experiment." Severus got up from his seat and walked towards a door set into the side wall. I followed.
"Can I help you with anything?" I asked as we walked through the ancient portal, "I'd like something to do with my hands, also."
"Yes, I have some things laid out that you can cut up, if you don't mind. It'd make my life far easier."
"Thanks."
"So tell me, do you think that you're going to be able to make it up with your friend the young Weasley?" Severus asked me.
I nodded. "I think, if I give him time and space, he'll come around. I'm just hoping I can stay alive that long."
/ / / / / / / / / / /
I was amazed at the casualness that Harry used when speaking about his own death. But I supposed that he was used to it by now, dodging death at every turn his short life takes. I wondered if he knew how much that wears on you, after a while. I am, in fact, only seventeen years older than he is.
"Don't worry about it, Harry. Any time you need someone to talk to, just seek me out. But please do try to keep it quiet. I have a reputation to maintain in Voldie's, as you so ridiculously call him, inner circle."
"Yes, sir. And thank you. For everything. And for letting me help with your potion." I looked down and saw that he had cut up all of his ingredients perfectly.
"Your cutting looks very good. Why don't I ever see this in class?" He blushed.
"Oh, yeah, that. I've always been good at potions. Something of the legacy of old Salazar. That and the looks and the Parseltounge, I suppose. I've always kept it hidden, when I saw that all of the Gryffindors were so bad at it." The boy seemed to have a survival instinct like that of my Slytherins. And then I remembered that Harry was more Slytherin than any of them.
"So why did you let me walk all over you like I did about your abysmal potions for years the way I did?" He simply shook his head. "Well, then, go over to that cauldron in the corner, and show me that you can make a.. Dreamless Sleep potion. The recipe is in the big red book on the middle shelf over there," I pointed at a bookshelf behind me. Harry just walked over to the supply shelves and started taking out ingredients.
****
I started making the potion, not bothering to read a recipe, but instead allowing my instincts to guide me. I cut and chopped, added and stirred, and felt Severus' intense stare on me the whole time. The entire affair made me feel surprisingly less self-conscious than it should have.
/ / / / / / / / /
I watched Harry make the potion as proficiently as I would have. He didn't look at a recipe. And he moved like a dancer, and his hands were so graceful. He had long-fingered, elegant hands. I suppose he inherited those from his mother. And I kept staring at him, my potion simmering as it would for the next three days.
****
I finished the potion and poured it into the vials. I knew I had done a good job on this particular potion. In fact, I had added a few ingredients that would make it stronger.
I got up from my seat and brought the smallest vial over to Severus. I handed it to him and asked, "What do you think?"
He opened the vial and sniffed the potion, and then took a tiny drop onto his finger and put it into his mouth. He rolled it around his tongue like one would a fine wine, and then spit it out into a stone basin behind him. "Although your potion is perfect and actually tastes decently, I would prefer to remain awake while we are in my lab."
My potion was perfect!!! "Severus, I believe that is the first compliment you have ever given me in my entire school career."
He nodded. "Yes. But you really are good at potions."
It was only then that I realized how happy his compliments made me.
---------
I didn't know how I was going to break the news to Ron. He wasn't going to like it. Not one bit. Ron was virulently anti-Slytherin. His hate for the other house was notorious. Harry and I didn't mind them so much, but we avoided the house, because our year was full of people like Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle. Mindless thugs and muggleborn-haters aren't my favorite sorts of people.
I walked into the Gryffindor common room, and the rest of my year ambushed me. Plying me for news, asking what had happened. I matter-of-factly informed them that I had to tell Ron first, and we were going into the boy's dorm, and if they tried to eavesdrop, they would have Snape, Dumbledore, and me to answer to. That shut them up, and they settled down into their seats in the common room as I dragged Ron up the stairs.
"What's this all about?" asked Ron as we walked into the room. "And where did all of Harry's things go?"
"That's what I have to tell you about. And it's a long story, and you'll hate it. You'd better sit down. Now," I ordered, "and don't interrupt my story. If you say one word while I'm telling this, I'll have to tie you to the chair. In fact, I think I'll tie you to the chair now, just in case." Ron looked worried. I muttered a few quiet spells, and Ron was tied to the chair, and unable to open his mouth. "Don't worry. I wouldn't leave you here. Now let me tell you this story.
"Snape called us into his office, and made us bring our trees. Now, we looked them over. To make a long story short, Malfoy and his mother are Harry's closest blood relatives. He's not really related to the Dursleys. The Potter Family is, of course, pureblood through and through. The more surprising thing is Harry's mother's family. She was really a pureblood witch, put with Muggles for safekeeping, in much the same way Harry was, except that everyone who knew was obliviated. Lily's sister was Narcissa Malfoy. And they were actually of the Slytherin Family." Ron looked incredulous. "As to where Harry and his things are, they've been moved to the Slytherin dorms, when a portrait of Salazar Slytherin insisted and Dumbledore agreed with him." I cast heavy silencing spells around the room and unbound Ron before exiting the room and locking it from the outside. I walked down to the common room.
"Now guys, I've locked Ron into the boy's dorm until he's worked his anger out. I've also put some spells on him that will let me know when he's done raging and is ready to come out. As to what happened with Harry, I think you'll have to fid out later. He will need to tell you this himself."
****
I opened my eyes into darkness, and I realized I was in my bed in the Slytherin dormitories, and I groaned to myself. I wondered just how stupid I could get as I got to my feet, outside of the bed. The ceiling was dark and starry, with a moon on the western side of the "sky". I put charms on all of my things that would repel anyone that I didn't invite to touch them. Trunk, bed, clothes, shoes, the odd knickknack the house elves had put on top of my trunk to make it seem more homey. Then I transfigured the blankets inside of my curtains into a neutral tan color. I figured that red wasn't welcome in these dorms anyway.
Then I put up wards on my whole side of the room, not allowing anyone in unless I invited them. Then, I curled up on my bed, and fell back into restless sleep.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
I watched Potter sleep for a while, wondering how he was taking the sudden changes. I decided I could give him some respite from my tongue, at least until he got himself together a bit again. I almost felt bad for him. His friend the Weasel wasn't going to like this. Granger, however, might stand by him. She always seemed to be the better Gryffindor of the pair.
------------
Harry walked into the Great Hall looking pale and drawn as he sat down beside me, not looking at Ron on my other side. I don't think that he knew how Ron was taking it. I hoped, I prayed that Ron wouldn't start screaming at Harry. I should have know that all of my wishes were futile.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, HARRY? YOU LET THEM MOVE YOU TO BLOODY SLYTHERIN!" he screamed in Harry's face, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE A BETTER GRYFFIDOR THAN THAT." Then, his voice got deadly, menacingly quiet, and it was somehow worse than the yelling. "I thought you cared about us more than that. I thought you were more loyal. I thought you were my best friend. I thought that you were a iGryffindor/i. I guess not." And he stalked away.
Harry got up and ran out of the Hall, down towards the dungeons.
****
How could he do that? How the bloody hell could he do that? I ran down intricate pathways, the halls a blur in front of me, turning into progressively smaller side passageways, trying to make sure that no one would find me. Didn't Ron realize that if there was any time I needed him, it was now? I couldn't deal with that.
I finally found a dark corner I could stay in. I slid down the wall, and slumped over, head on my knees. Silent sobs wracked my body. Grieving quietly for the loss of my first friend that was my age, I didn't know what to do. Until I saw Snape standing in front of me, regarding me quietly, lacking a kind of aura of malice and anger that the man usually carried like an awful burden.
/ / / / / / / / / / / / /
The boy noticed me standing across the hall from him, and his body slowly stopped shaking. As soon as he looked me in the eyes, I spoke, without anger or hatred in my voice, "you managed to stumble on the corridor that has my private lab and office. Would you please come into my office?" I opened a door behind me and held it open for Potter to walk in. "Well?" I asked, "Aren't you coming in?"
The boy- no, Potter, dragged himself off of the ground and slouched into my office. I gestured at an armchair placed in front of the desk, and took the seat behind the desk for myself. "What happened back in the Great Hall?" I asked, as gently as you could expect from me.
"Ron can't accept it. He doesn't get that I had no say in any of this. He thinks that I was switched willingly, that I asked for it," Potter deadpanned, "He doesn't understand that I need him more now than I ever have before, that I have no friends in my own House, and that I'm more likely to be killed by one of my own Housemates than I am to be killed by old Voldie." The boy dissolved into sobs again.
I reached over the desk and patted his arm softly. "I promise you, Harry, that you will not be killed in this school while you are under my protection. You know that I have protected you since you came to this school. That will not change, until you do not need my protection any longer."
He looked surprised, and then he sniffled, and said, "I know. I'd be dead now, if it wasn't for you. And I thank you for that. But since when did you call me Harry?"
"Since I decided that you needed reassurance from your own house, and since you will have to wait a while for it from your yearmates, you can get it from me first. As long as we are in these offices, you can call me Severus. Just don't tell anyone else." God help me, I was befriending him. Albus was right, it's hard to be so mean to the boy in private, he seems to feel everything so deeply and profoundly.
****
Snape- no, Severus, was actually being nice to me. I decided to take advantage of the strange offer, and just go with it. "Thank you. Severus," I replied, "would you mind just talking to me for a while? I need to get all of this angst out of my system."
He nodded, and replied, "I will talk to you, as long as you don't mind doing the talking in my lab. I am in the middle of a potions experiment." Severus got up from his seat and walked towards a door set into the side wall. I followed.
"Can I help you with anything?" I asked as we walked through the ancient portal, "I'd like something to do with my hands, also."
"Yes, I have some things laid out that you can cut up, if you don't mind. It'd make my life far easier."
"Thanks."
"So tell me, do you think that you're going to be able to make it up with your friend the young Weasley?" Severus asked me.
I nodded. "I think, if I give him time and space, he'll come around. I'm just hoping I can stay alive that long."
/ / / / / / / / / / /
I was amazed at the casualness that Harry used when speaking about his own death. But I supposed that he was used to it by now, dodging death at every turn his short life takes. I wondered if he knew how much that wears on you, after a while. I am, in fact, only seventeen years older than he is.
"Don't worry about it, Harry. Any time you need someone to talk to, just seek me out. But please do try to keep it quiet. I have a reputation to maintain in Voldie's, as you so ridiculously call him, inner circle."
"Yes, sir. And thank you. For everything. And for letting me help with your potion." I looked down and saw that he had cut up all of his ingredients perfectly.
"Your cutting looks very good. Why don't I ever see this in class?" He blushed.
"Oh, yeah, that. I've always been good at potions. Something of the legacy of old Salazar. That and the looks and the Parseltounge, I suppose. I've always kept it hidden, when I saw that all of the Gryffindors were so bad at it." The boy seemed to have a survival instinct like that of my Slytherins. And then I remembered that Harry was more Slytherin than any of them.
"So why did you let me walk all over you like I did about your abysmal potions for years the way I did?" He simply shook his head. "Well, then, go over to that cauldron in the corner, and show me that you can make a.. Dreamless Sleep potion. The recipe is in the big red book on the middle shelf over there," I pointed at a bookshelf behind me. Harry just walked over to the supply shelves and started taking out ingredients.
****
I started making the potion, not bothering to read a recipe, but instead allowing my instincts to guide me. I cut and chopped, added and stirred, and felt Severus' intense stare on me the whole time. The entire affair made me feel surprisingly less self-conscious than it should have.
/ / / / / / / / /
I watched Harry make the potion as proficiently as I would have. He didn't look at a recipe. And he moved like a dancer, and his hands were so graceful. He had long-fingered, elegant hands. I suppose he inherited those from his mother. And I kept staring at him, my potion simmering as it would for the next three days.
****
I finished the potion and poured it into the vials. I knew I had done a good job on this particular potion. In fact, I had added a few ingredients that would make it stronger.
I got up from my seat and brought the smallest vial over to Severus. I handed it to him and asked, "What do you think?"
He opened the vial and sniffed the potion, and then took a tiny drop onto his finger and put it into his mouth. He rolled it around his tongue like one would a fine wine, and then spit it out into a stone basin behind him. "Although your potion is perfect and actually tastes decently, I would prefer to remain awake while we are in my lab."
My potion was perfect!!! "Severus, I believe that is the first compliment you have ever given me in my entire school career."
He nodded. "Yes. But you really are good at potions."
It was only then that I realized how happy his compliments made me.