Child of Darkness
Chapter 4
"Albus?" McGonagall said softly after Harry and Snape had stormed out. "Are you sure it's safe, having Harry here? You've seen what he's become." All the other teachers looked at him expectantly, sharing the same thoughts as McGonagall.
Dumbledore gave them all a stern look. "I know Harry seems to be turning into what we fear most, but give him a chance, his heart is in the right place."
"Yes, but what about that Dark City? Surely we should tell the Ministry, I mean, who knows what may happen if the rest of the world doesn't know about it. They may attack us. This is just to much."
"I know, Minerva, I know. But we gave Harry our word we would tell no one, and he took a big risk coming here. I will not reveal his secret unless he gives us good reason to."
McGonagall sighed. She just couldn't help but be afraid of a city of Darkness, no matter what anyone said.
***************
As soon as Snape reached the dungeons he whirled around and grabbed the unsuspecting Harry by the hair and slammed him into the hard stone wall, forcing a cry of pain from the boys mouth.
Bringing his face close to Harry's he began speaking in a soft, deadly voice. "You may have all the others fooled, Potter, but not me." He snarled, hatred written clearly on his face. "I don't care why you're here or what you plan on doing but I don't trust you at all. You should have never come back. But I'm warning you now, stay away from me and the students or I will kill you!"
Harry had no doubts that Snape would do just that. He was a good man at heart (though few knew it) and would kill anyone who threatened his students. Obviously Snape viewed him as a threat so he did the wise thing and meekly nodded his head, determined not to start the fight that Snape was trying to lure him into.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just wanted to see everyone again….even you."
That little comment stunned Snape for about half a second, then without a word he turned around and stalked to his room, snarling the password and storming inside. The door slammed behind him with an echoing finality, bouncing eerily off the walls. It was a while before he dared move.
"God," Harry gasped, rubbing his head, " I hope he doesn't do that again."
With a hiss of pain he slid to the floor, realizing that Snape didn't even tell him the password to his room, let alone where it was. He didn't know why the Potions Master was so cruel to him just then, but he didn't dare disturb him, even to ask where his room was.
It was a very sad and disappointed Harry who wordlessly curled up into a tight ball outside of Snape's room and fell into a restless sleep, letting the familiar icy coldness wash away his worries……for the moment.
***********
Back in Malicens:
Headmaster Asher was calmly reading a book in his office, bored to death, as the door swung open so quietly he didn't even know anyone was there until the intruder loudly cleared his throat.
"Hmm?" Asher looked up to see a man, who, thought 30 years old, looked no older than 19. Mostly due to the fact that he was rather small, only reaching 5'4, and had pale blond hair that was always untamed and fell into his right eye no matter how hard he tried to tame it.
"You called me, Asher?" Professor Necro asked, looking at the Headmaster with anxious blue eyes.
"Yes. I'm worried about Harry."
Necro grinned. "No your not. Your worried he going to blab about the city. You think he's to irresponsible to be trusted with a secret that big."
Asher stared, his mouth hanging open in shock."……….Don't do that again. No one should be able to tell what someone's thinking by just looking at them, it's disturbing."
Necro shrugged, still smiling mysteriously.
"But you right. That boy is a walking disaster." he sighed dramatically. "I have something to ask of you."
"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on him."
Asher glared once again. "DOMINIC!" he yelled, using Necro's real name. "DON'T DO THAT!!" (a/n: Necro is a nickname because he's a Necromancer)
"Whatever. I'm already packed anyways so I'll just be going." he huffed, slightly hurt at being shouted at, and walked out of the door.
Asher watched him go. Letting out a long breath as the door closed.
No matter how many time's Necro did it, he was still creeped out that someone knew him well enough to read his mind without using magic. He was the mind reader, damn it, not that short zombie-hugging-sissy-boy.
"Oh well, at least someone's going to be watching out for Harry." he shook his head. "These people are going to be the death of me."
***********
Meanwhile back at Hogwarts, Harry Potter was having a dream. Not that unusual for him but strangely this dream was neither about Voldemort or the Dursley's. No, this particular dream was rather pleasant, but that's what made it all the more strange.
He was standing in the middle of a strange black room and someone had wrapped there hands around his skinny waist, pulling him close to a large warm body.
For some reason he was unable to open his eye's to see who this mystery person was but he wasn't scared at all, in fact he felt safe and happy, emotions like that were few and far apart in his life so without thinking, he nestled against this tall person, resting his cheek against their strong chest. With a content smile he breathed in this strange person scent, smelling an odd combination of vanilla, rain and…… blood.
That was odd, but no reason to panic.
It seemed like hours, but in reality was only about a minute, when he felt a long, thin finger under his chin, lifting his head up. Harry was slightly confused but all his thoughts vanished as a pair of soft, thin lips pressed against his own.
If you've never been in love you can't imagine the feeling you get when time seems to stand still for you just so that wonderful moment doesn't have to end. Well that was the feeling Harry was experiencing at that moment. It was if he had been waiting for that moment his entire life and now that it was finally there he didn't want it to end.
………But unfortunately, the mysterious person who smelt of vanilla, rain and blood did vanish. Harry let out a cry as they disappeared into thin air. He hadn't even seen their face. It was so unfair!
WHY DID LIFE DO THIS TO HIM? What did he do to deserve this?
With those thoughts in his head, Harry was cruely thrown back into reality.
***********
With a jolt Snape snapped back to reality. He had been having that dream again. That same bloody dream that had been haunting him for a month now and had made him even more hateful than ever. He could never get any peace because nothing stopped it, not Dreamless Sleeping Potions or even a Draught of the Living Dead, which he had been desperate enough to administer to himself 2 weeks ago. It seemed no matter what he was doing while he was awake, he would always be longing for the person in his dreams, that small person who he would kiss every night and who seemed to make life worth living for. Snape had long since figured out the person was a male, due to the fact that no female had a chest that flat, but even so, it didn't seem to matter inside the dream or out.
It wasn't that he was gay, it was that that person seemed to make everything alright so it didn't matter what gender they were.
And as if that weren't weird enough, the second he had seen Potter enter the staff room, he somehow knew he was to blame. So he had taken out all of his anger and frustration out on the boy.
After all, it was only Potter, and that kid deserved a good beating, weather he deserved it or not.
With a groan Snape slowly pulled himself out of bed and trudged over to the bathroom. It was a habit he had adopted ever since the dreams started, he would drag himself over to the bathroom and stare at his reflection, looking over all of his many flaws and gradually fixing them. The process took awhile because most of the time he was to lazy to do anything, but as he looked into the mirror and took of the illusion charm of his old face, he gasped in shock. This was the first time he had actually ever…..looked at himself.
He looked almost exactly the way he had in his school days. The lines of stress and depression were gone, leaving his thin face smooth and almost 15 years younger looking. His skin was still the color of tanned milk, an expression he used to describe his unnaturally pale complexion, just a few shades darker than milk. Any lighter and he could pass for a ghost.
His teeth were no longer yellow and crooked, a simple cleaning and straightening spell had fixed that right up. But probably the most noticeable change was in his nose, it had been broken one to many times and gave the appearance of looking very large, but had been easy to fix, a simple bone healing spell and it was good as new.
Snape marveled at the change, giving a genuine smile, it was small but more than he usually showed.
"I should have done this years ago." he murmured to himself, running his index finger over his face to make sure it wasn't his imagination.
It was almost impossible to believe but he actually looked beautiful, he could never be handsome because his structure was to delicate and fine for that but it didn't matter. With his freshly washed hair framing his face, curling up slightly at the end, and his new look…..he was the cutest person in the school. Who would have thought, he could compete with Draco Malfoy for that title.
"Ha! This'll show all those bastards! Greasy git indeed."
He swiftly exited the bathroom and pulled out one of his black robes that wasn't wrinkled, putting it on swiftly. It was rather tight but would do just fine until he could find time to do laundry. Right now he had a class full of 7th years to make miserable.
Yes life was good.
He left his room, happier than he could remember being in a long time…..and tripped over Harry before he could take another step. That was enough to get him back into evil git mode. What the hell was Potter doing out here? Quite suddenly he remembered storming into his room without telling Potter where he was to sleep, or the password for that matter.
Oh well.
Pulling himself to his feet, Snape began prodding Harry with his foot, wondering why on earth Potter had that stupid smile on his face. When the boy showed no sign of waking Snape resorted to full out kicking.
"Get up Potter! I haven't got all day." He said in a sneering voice, smiling in satisfaction as Harry woke up with a small cry. For a moment he looked around with bleary eyes , trying to figure out where he was. That question was answered when he looked up.
"……..Snape?"
"Yes, you lazy freeloader, now get up. Your rooms behind the picture of the silver snake, the passwords Parselmouth." He snapped, storming off without even bothering to find out if Harry had heard, let alone understood, him. He was to busy trying to get to the Great Hall to care about Potter, those stupid stairs had moved again.
Oh well, it was worth it if he could see the shocked look on everyone's faces when he walked in looking like a sex god.
*************
At that same time Ron was munching happily on a piece of bacon. His life was good, despite the loss of his best friend, he had Hermione and he was going to be graduating soon, and hopefully a wedding would come soon after. Nothing could ruin his good mood.
He looked over at the teachers table, all of them seemed to be thinking hard about something…..and Snape was nowhere to be seen. Could life get any better?
He imagined it could, but right now nothing could spoil his good mood. That is until someone walked into the Great Hall, he just gave the person a fleeting glance, not even really seeing who it was. He turned back to eat his breakfast…..until he noticed everyone else was looking at the person who had just walked in. With a confused frown he turned around. His eyebrows shot to the sky when he saw who it was, his mouth falling open.
"Holy shit!"
Chapter 4
"Albus?" McGonagall said softly after Harry and Snape had stormed out. "Are you sure it's safe, having Harry here? You've seen what he's become." All the other teachers looked at him expectantly, sharing the same thoughts as McGonagall.
Dumbledore gave them all a stern look. "I know Harry seems to be turning into what we fear most, but give him a chance, his heart is in the right place."
"Yes, but what about that Dark City? Surely we should tell the Ministry, I mean, who knows what may happen if the rest of the world doesn't know about it. They may attack us. This is just to much."
"I know, Minerva, I know. But we gave Harry our word we would tell no one, and he took a big risk coming here. I will not reveal his secret unless he gives us good reason to."
McGonagall sighed. She just couldn't help but be afraid of a city of Darkness, no matter what anyone said.
***************
As soon as Snape reached the dungeons he whirled around and grabbed the unsuspecting Harry by the hair and slammed him into the hard stone wall, forcing a cry of pain from the boys mouth.
Bringing his face close to Harry's he began speaking in a soft, deadly voice. "You may have all the others fooled, Potter, but not me." He snarled, hatred written clearly on his face. "I don't care why you're here or what you plan on doing but I don't trust you at all. You should have never come back. But I'm warning you now, stay away from me and the students or I will kill you!"
Harry had no doubts that Snape would do just that. He was a good man at heart (though few knew it) and would kill anyone who threatened his students. Obviously Snape viewed him as a threat so he did the wise thing and meekly nodded his head, determined not to start the fight that Snape was trying to lure him into.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just wanted to see everyone again….even you."
That little comment stunned Snape for about half a second, then without a word he turned around and stalked to his room, snarling the password and storming inside. The door slammed behind him with an echoing finality, bouncing eerily off the walls. It was a while before he dared move.
"God," Harry gasped, rubbing his head, " I hope he doesn't do that again."
With a hiss of pain he slid to the floor, realizing that Snape didn't even tell him the password to his room, let alone where it was. He didn't know why the Potions Master was so cruel to him just then, but he didn't dare disturb him, even to ask where his room was.
It was a very sad and disappointed Harry who wordlessly curled up into a tight ball outside of Snape's room and fell into a restless sleep, letting the familiar icy coldness wash away his worries……for the moment.
***********
Back in Malicens:
Headmaster Asher was calmly reading a book in his office, bored to death, as the door swung open so quietly he didn't even know anyone was there until the intruder loudly cleared his throat.
"Hmm?" Asher looked up to see a man, who, thought 30 years old, looked no older than 19. Mostly due to the fact that he was rather small, only reaching 5'4, and had pale blond hair that was always untamed and fell into his right eye no matter how hard he tried to tame it.
"You called me, Asher?" Professor Necro asked, looking at the Headmaster with anxious blue eyes.
"Yes. I'm worried about Harry."
Necro grinned. "No your not. Your worried he going to blab about the city. You think he's to irresponsible to be trusted with a secret that big."
Asher stared, his mouth hanging open in shock."……….Don't do that again. No one should be able to tell what someone's thinking by just looking at them, it's disturbing."
Necro shrugged, still smiling mysteriously.
"But you right. That boy is a walking disaster." he sighed dramatically. "I have something to ask of you."
"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on him."
Asher glared once again. "DOMINIC!" he yelled, using Necro's real name. "DON'T DO THAT!!" (a/n: Necro is a nickname because he's a Necromancer)
"Whatever. I'm already packed anyways so I'll just be going." he huffed, slightly hurt at being shouted at, and walked out of the door.
Asher watched him go. Letting out a long breath as the door closed.
No matter how many time's Necro did it, he was still creeped out that someone knew him well enough to read his mind without using magic. He was the mind reader, damn it, not that short zombie-hugging-sissy-boy.
"Oh well, at least someone's going to be watching out for Harry." he shook his head. "These people are going to be the death of me."
***********
Meanwhile back at Hogwarts, Harry Potter was having a dream. Not that unusual for him but strangely this dream was neither about Voldemort or the Dursley's. No, this particular dream was rather pleasant, but that's what made it all the more strange.
He was standing in the middle of a strange black room and someone had wrapped there hands around his skinny waist, pulling him close to a large warm body.
For some reason he was unable to open his eye's to see who this mystery person was but he wasn't scared at all, in fact he felt safe and happy, emotions like that were few and far apart in his life so without thinking, he nestled against this tall person, resting his cheek against their strong chest. With a content smile he breathed in this strange person scent, smelling an odd combination of vanilla, rain and…… blood.
That was odd, but no reason to panic.
It seemed like hours, but in reality was only about a minute, when he felt a long, thin finger under his chin, lifting his head up. Harry was slightly confused but all his thoughts vanished as a pair of soft, thin lips pressed against his own.
If you've never been in love you can't imagine the feeling you get when time seems to stand still for you just so that wonderful moment doesn't have to end. Well that was the feeling Harry was experiencing at that moment. It was if he had been waiting for that moment his entire life and now that it was finally there he didn't want it to end.
………But unfortunately, the mysterious person who smelt of vanilla, rain and blood did vanish. Harry let out a cry as they disappeared into thin air. He hadn't even seen their face. It was so unfair!
WHY DID LIFE DO THIS TO HIM? What did he do to deserve this?
With those thoughts in his head, Harry was cruely thrown back into reality.
***********
With a jolt Snape snapped back to reality. He had been having that dream again. That same bloody dream that had been haunting him for a month now and had made him even more hateful than ever. He could never get any peace because nothing stopped it, not Dreamless Sleeping Potions or even a Draught of the Living Dead, which he had been desperate enough to administer to himself 2 weeks ago. It seemed no matter what he was doing while he was awake, he would always be longing for the person in his dreams, that small person who he would kiss every night and who seemed to make life worth living for. Snape had long since figured out the person was a male, due to the fact that no female had a chest that flat, but even so, it didn't seem to matter inside the dream or out.
It wasn't that he was gay, it was that that person seemed to make everything alright so it didn't matter what gender they were.
And as if that weren't weird enough, the second he had seen Potter enter the staff room, he somehow knew he was to blame. So he had taken out all of his anger and frustration out on the boy.
After all, it was only Potter, and that kid deserved a good beating, weather he deserved it or not.
With a groan Snape slowly pulled himself out of bed and trudged over to the bathroom. It was a habit he had adopted ever since the dreams started, he would drag himself over to the bathroom and stare at his reflection, looking over all of his many flaws and gradually fixing them. The process took awhile because most of the time he was to lazy to do anything, but as he looked into the mirror and took of the illusion charm of his old face, he gasped in shock. This was the first time he had actually ever…..looked at himself.
He looked almost exactly the way he had in his school days. The lines of stress and depression were gone, leaving his thin face smooth and almost 15 years younger looking. His skin was still the color of tanned milk, an expression he used to describe his unnaturally pale complexion, just a few shades darker than milk. Any lighter and he could pass for a ghost.
His teeth were no longer yellow and crooked, a simple cleaning and straightening spell had fixed that right up. But probably the most noticeable change was in his nose, it had been broken one to many times and gave the appearance of looking very large, but had been easy to fix, a simple bone healing spell and it was good as new.
Snape marveled at the change, giving a genuine smile, it was small but more than he usually showed.
"I should have done this years ago." he murmured to himself, running his index finger over his face to make sure it wasn't his imagination.
It was almost impossible to believe but he actually looked beautiful, he could never be handsome because his structure was to delicate and fine for that but it didn't matter. With his freshly washed hair framing his face, curling up slightly at the end, and his new look…..he was the cutest person in the school. Who would have thought, he could compete with Draco Malfoy for that title.
"Ha! This'll show all those bastards! Greasy git indeed."
He swiftly exited the bathroom and pulled out one of his black robes that wasn't wrinkled, putting it on swiftly. It was rather tight but would do just fine until he could find time to do laundry. Right now he had a class full of 7th years to make miserable.
Yes life was good.
He left his room, happier than he could remember being in a long time…..and tripped over Harry before he could take another step. That was enough to get him back into evil git mode. What the hell was Potter doing out here? Quite suddenly he remembered storming into his room without telling Potter where he was to sleep, or the password for that matter.
Oh well.
Pulling himself to his feet, Snape began prodding Harry with his foot, wondering why on earth Potter had that stupid smile on his face. When the boy showed no sign of waking Snape resorted to full out kicking.
"Get up Potter! I haven't got all day." He said in a sneering voice, smiling in satisfaction as Harry woke up with a small cry. For a moment he looked around with bleary eyes , trying to figure out where he was. That question was answered when he looked up.
"……..Snape?"
"Yes, you lazy freeloader, now get up. Your rooms behind the picture of the silver snake, the passwords Parselmouth." He snapped, storming off without even bothering to find out if Harry had heard, let alone understood, him. He was to busy trying to get to the Great Hall to care about Potter, those stupid stairs had moved again.
Oh well, it was worth it if he could see the shocked look on everyone's faces when he walked in looking like a sex god.
*************
At that same time Ron was munching happily on a piece of bacon. His life was good, despite the loss of his best friend, he had Hermione and he was going to be graduating soon, and hopefully a wedding would come soon after. Nothing could ruin his good mood.
He looked over at the teachers table, all of them seemed to be thinking hard about something…..and Snape was nowhere to be seen. Could life get any better?
He imagined it could, but right now nothing could spoil his good mood. That is until someone walked into the Great Hall, he just gave the person a fleeting glance, not even really seeing who it was. He turned back to eat his breakfast…..until he noticed everyone else was looking at the person who had just walked in. With a confused frown he turned around. His eyebrows shot to the sky when he saw who it was, his mouth falling open.
"Holy shit!"