Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and friends. That glory belongs to
J.K. Rowling.
**Notes: Hope you all are enjoying it, here is a bit more. Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming .~~Minerva.
Chapter 11: Back to school
When Harry entered the Great Hall he looked for his father at the head table. Harry spotted him and gave him a nod for a hello. It had begun, the not being able to acknowledge his father. His father had returned the nod and the quickly looked to the Slytherin table smirking at them. The sorting ceremony went off without a hitch. Gryffendor received another 8 students, Hufflepuff received 7, Raven Claw 6 and Slytherin 7. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat towards the head tables as always. Harry would occasionally look at his father, wishing he could be 'Harry Snape' again, but that would just have to wait.
"Come on Harry eat up, don't want you to waste away to nothing the first night" edged on Ron, who noticed Harry hadn't touched a thing on his plate.
"I know Ron; I'm just worried about never being able to be who I truly am" retorted Harry coldly.
Hermione and Ginny watched Harry with sad eyes. They knew it must be hard on Harry. He had so much to deal with and now this on top of everything else. He handled it all very well, maybe a little too well. They both pushed the thought to the back of their mind and concentrated on getting Harry to eat, which he finally did. Then they all enjoyed each others company and ate happily. Dumbledore then announced it was time to return to the houses for the night, it would be an early morning.
Monday morning, Ron, Harry and Hermione had potions, along with the Slytherin's. Harry actually looked forward to it in a weird sort of way. Everyone was quiet when the loud bang of the door came, as it always did, marking Professor Snape's entrance into the room. "I see everyone lived through the summer" snapped professor Snape. "Very well, on we go" and started writing potion ingredients on the board and everyone copied them down. "Well get moving" Snape snapped again. The class was doing potions on the first day, as normal with every year except their first year. Malfoy walked around gloating as if he had done something wonderful while getting his ingredients. Harry walked over and got the ingredients for him and Neville Longbottom. Ron and Hermione were paired together. The potion that professor Snape had them working on wasn't very easy at all. It was a dreamless sleep potion. Snape had arranged it so that way Harry could learn to make his own when need be. Harry's nightmares had gone down quite a bit, but Severus didn't want to risk his son losing anymore sleep then necessary. The class was to take their potions that night after completing them and try them out, and they would be graded the next morning at breakfast. Harry and Neville had been one of the last to finish since Neville was a klutz. Neville was a very nice young man, Harry enjoyed spending time with him, but he was very forgetful as well as clumsy. Everyone bottled up their potions so they could take them that night. Malfoy sneered at Harry almost the whole class. As if he knew something and Harry knew if he did know something, it probably was something Harry wasn't going to like one bit. So Harry just tried to keep an eye on him for the rest of the class which wasn't too hard. Harry was at the table next to Malfoy's table.
The end of potions finally came and Snape dismissed the class. Harry looked back making sure he was the last to leave and Snape winked at him. This made Harry feel pretty good. His father did still care about him. That was very comforting. Ron and Hermione waited outside for Harry to come out, which wasn't long. He didn't stay to talk to his father, everything was going well and he would see him that night anyway since it was Thursday. They all went traipsing off to Transfiguration class.
It was a long class. Professor Magonagall had them transfiguring a pen into a hen. Harry somewhat got it, only his hen was blue, which was the color of the ink in his pen. Hermione got it right, of course. Ron, well, he didn't do so well. He had transfigured his pen into a snake. Neville, did the worst, which surprised no one, he had made his pen into a bowl somehow. But this was no ordinary bowl, it clucked like a chicken when you touched it. It was finally time for lunch. Class was dismissed. It was also time for mail. It almost always came during lunch. Harry got an owl from Dumbledore of all people. It simply said 'We have a plan, we meet tonight in Severus' chambers, use the cloak' Harry nodded at Dumbledore and he winked back at Harry then kind of motioned his head over to Severus. Were Harry's eyes deceiving him, or did his father actually look happy? They both nodded at each other discretely. Harry could tell from this point on it was going to be a long day at Hogwarts. After lunch all the Gryffendor 5th years along with the Hufflepuff 5th years headed off to Charms class together. Charms went off without a hitch. Neville didn't even make an explosion with his wand today, which had to be good news.
Dinner came around, finally thought Harry. He was very anxious to find out what plan Dumbledore had come up with. Only about 2 hours until they would leave the Gryffendor common room and head to Severus' private rooms. Harry and Ron played a quick game of chess waiting for the time to pass, he too was anxious to hear of this grand plan Dumbledore had come up with. Hermione did her homework. It was finally time to head sown to the dungeons. Harry went up and grabbed his cloak, he was glad he had it. Harry, Ron and Hermione got under the cloak right after they got out of the common room. They made their way quietly down to the dungeons, along the way they had run into Peeves and thought for sure they would be caught. The also almost ran into Filch, the caretaker. Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, wouldn't leave them alone. As they got closer to the dungeons, the spotted Malfoy sneaking around, they would have followed him had they not had a meeting with Severus and Dumbledore.
They finally arrived at the gargoyle statue that marked the entrance to Severus' private rooms. "Demon Fangs" whispered Harry. The gargoyle slid to the side slowly, they came inside keeping the cloak on over them. Severus looked, he was hoping it was Harry and his friends. After the gargoyle closed all the way they took off the cloak, and made their way over to one of the couches in the room. There were 2 couches, and 1 armchair. Hermione was absolutely amazed at the amount of books Severus had.
"Professor, may I browse your collection?" Asked Hermione with great anticipation.
"Of course Miss Grainger, but only until Professor Dumbledore gets here" Replied Severus. Hermione nodded that she understood, and began looking, she was very impressed with the amount of books as well as how rare some of them were. The first one she spotted made her mouth fall open like a codfish. The Greatest Potions of the Tenth Century. They followed through to the twentieth century. Hermione didn't get very far when there was a knock then the door preceded to open and in stepped Albus Dumbledore. What no one expected was who was with him, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
**Notes: Hope you all are enjoying it, here is a bit more. Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming .~~Minerva.
Chapter 11: Back to school
When Harry entered the Great Hall he looked for his father at the head table. Harry spotted him and gave him a nod for a hello. It had begun, the not being able to acknowledge his father. His father had returned the nod and the quickly looked to the Slytherin table smirking at them. The sorting ceremony went off without a hitch. Gryffendor received another 8 students, Hufflepuff received 7, Raven Claw 6 and Slytherin 7. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat towards the head tables as always. Harry would occasionally look at his father, wishing he could be 'Harry Snape' again, but that would just have to wait.
"Come on Harry eat up, don't want you to waste away to nothing the first night" edged on Ron, who noticed Harry hadn't touched a thing on his plate.
"I know Ron; I'm just worried about never being able to be who I truly am" retorted Harry coldly.
Hermione and Ginny watched Harry with sad eyes. They knew it must be hard on Harry. He had so much to deal with and now this on top of everything else. He handled it all very well, maybe a little too well. They both pushed the thought to the back of their mind and concentrated on getting Harry to eat, which he finally did. Then they all enjoyed each others company and ate happily. Dumbledore then announced it was time to return to the houses for the night, it would be an early morning.
Monday morning, Ron, Harry and Hermione had potions, along with the Slytherin's. Harry actually looked forward to it in a weird sort of way. Everyone was quiet when the loud bang of the door came, as it always did, marking Professor Snape's entrance into the room. "I see everyone lived through the summer" snapped professor Snape. "Very well, on we go" and started writing potion ingredients on the board and everyone copied them down. "Well get moving" Snape snapped again. The class was doing potions on the first day, as normal with every year except their first year. Malfoy walked around gloating as if he had done something wonderful while getting his ingredients. Harry walked over and got the ingredients for him and Neville Longbottom. Ron and Hermione were paired together. The potion that professor Snape had them working on wasn't very easy at all. It was a dreamless sleep potion. Snape had arranged it so that way Harry could learn to make his own when need be. Harry's nightmares had gone down quite a bit, but Severus didn't want to risk his son losing anymore sleep then necessary. The class was to take their potions that night after completing them and try them out, and they would be graded the next morning at breakfast. Harry and Neville had been one of the last to finish since Neville was a klutz. Neville was a very nice young man, Harry enjoyed spending time with him, but he was very forgetful as well as clumsy. Everyone bottled up their potions so they could take them that night. Malfoy sneered at Harry almost the whole class. As if he knew something and Harry knew if he did know something, it probably was something Harry wasn't going to like one bit. So Harry just tried to keep an eye on him for the rest of the class which wasn't too hard. Harry was at the table next to Malfoy's table.
The end of potions finally came and Snape dismissed the class. Harry looked back making sure he was the last to leave and Snape winked at him. This made Harry feel pretty good. His father did still care about him. That was very comforting. Ron and Hermione waited outside for Harry to come out, which wasn't long. He didn't stay to talk to his father, everything was going well and he would see him that night anyway since it was Thursday. They all went traipsing off to Transfiguration class.
It was a long class. Professor Magonagall had them transfiguring a pen into a hen. Harry somewhat got it, only his hen was blue, which was the color of the ink in his pen. Hermione got it right, of course. Ron, well, he didn't do so well. He had transfigured his pen into a snake. Neville, did the worst, which surprised no one, he had made his pen into a bowl somehow. But this was no ordinary bowl, it clucked like a chicken when you touched it. It was finally time for lunch. Class was dismissed. It was also time for mail. It almost always came during lunch. Harry got an owl from Dumbledore of all people. It simply said 'We have a plan, we meet tonight in Severus' chambers, use the cloak' Harry nodded at Dumbledore and he winked back at Harry then kind of motioned his head over to Severus. Were Harry's eyes deceiving him, or did his father actually look happy? They both nodded at each other discretely. Harry could tell from this point on it was going to be a long day at Hogwarts. After lunch all the Gryffendor 5th years along with the Hufflepuff 5th years headed off to Charms class together. Charms went off without a hitch. Neville didn't even make an explosion with his wand today, which had to be good news.
Dinner came around, finally thought Harry. He was very anxious to find out what plan Dumbledore had come up with. Only about 2 hours until they would leave the Gryffendor common room and head to Severus' private rooms. Harry and Ron played a quick game of chess waiting for the time to pass, he too was anxious to hear of this grand plan Dumbledore had come up with. Hermione did her homework. It was finally time to head sown to the dungeons. Harry went up and grabbed his cloak, he was glad he had it. Harry, Ron and Hermione got under the cloak right after they got out of the common room. They made their way quietly down to the dungeons, along the way they had run into Peeves and thought for sure they would be caught. The also almost ran into Filch, the caretaker. Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, wouldn't leave them alone. As they got closer to the dungeons, the spotted Malfoy sneaking around, they would have followed him had they not had a meeting with Severus and Dumbledore.
They finally arrived at the gargoyle statue that marked the entrance to Severus' private rooms. "Demon Fangs" whispered Harry. The gargoyle slid to the side slowly, they came inside keeping the cloak on over them. Severus looked, he was hoping it was Harry and his friends. After the gargoyle closed all the way they took off the cloak, and made their way over to one of the couches in the room. There were 2 couches, and 1 armchair. Hermione was absolutely amazed at the amount of books Severus had.
"Professor, may I browse your collection?" Asked Hermione with great anticipation.
"Of course Miss Grainger, but only until Professor Dumbledore gets here" Replied Severus. Hermione nodded that she understood, and began looking, she was very impressed with the amount of books as well as how rare some of them were. The first one she spotted made her mouth fall open like a codfish. The Greatest Potions of the Tenth Century. They followed through to the twentieth century. Hermione didn't get very far when there was a knock then the door preceded to open and in stepped Albus Dumbledore. What no one expected was who was with him, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.