Dean looked down sadly at his friend, and then turned to Seamus.
"What do we do?"
Seamus shrugged, his face pained. "He can't go to McGonagall like this, can he?"
Dean snorted.
"So, what do we do? Harry, do you want to see Pomfrey?"
"Go away. I don't want to see anyone."
"Harry, mate, you're going to get really ill if you don't get some help. . ."
Silence.
"Look, I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey. Seamus, you stay here with Harry and I'll. . ." Whatever Dean was going to do was lost in his startled yelp. "What are YOU doing here?. . .sir. . ."
Snape sneered.
"Professor McGonagall sent me here to collect Potter." He lied smoothly, and then turned his glare on the two Gryffindors. "What are you doing here?"
There was an uneasy silence and Seamus finally spoke.
"Professor McGonagall sent us to collect Harry."
Merlin, Severus, you should be able to lie better than that. Of course Minerva sent them!
There was another awkward silence until Snape finally snapped "Well, what are you waiting for? Go back to your lessons!"
Seamus and Dean fled. When they had reached the comparative safety of the Transfiguration room Dean turned to his friend, wide eyed.
"What the hell was that about? How did Snape get in? And why was he lying?" Seamus shrugged, looking baffled. Their conversation was quickly stopped by McGonagall coming over.
"Is he waiting?"
"Um, no professor, professor Snape came while we were getting Harry and said you'd sent him. Then he kicked us out!"
McGonagall went white as a sheet, thinking inwardly 'You've made a mistake here, Albus. He's going to kill Harry!' and took off towards the Gryffindor rooms.
*****************************************
Snape was livid.
"What the hell happened to taking care of yourself?" he bellowed, spit flying from his mouth. "Can you not even be entrusted with a simple task, like keeping yourself alive?"
"Can you not even be entrusted with the simple task of keeping your bloody great nose out of places it isn't wanted?" yelled Harry, shocking Snape.
"How dare you talk. . ."
"To me like that, ten points. . ."
"From Gryffindor" finished Snape before he suddenly realised Potter had been completely mocking him. To make matters even worse he heard a muffled snort from the door and saw McGonagall standing there.
"How dare you talk. . ." he said before realising he would be walking into exactly the same trap again. Furiously he flushed.
"Why were you up here, Severus?"
"I was going to see why Mr Potter has not been attending lessons recently."
"And you did not see fit to come and discuss this with me, his Head of House?"
"No" said Snape, sticking his nose in the air. "I did not."
Rolling her eyes, McGonagall turned to Harry.
"Well, Mr Potter, come on. We need to discuss your current behaviour" said McGonagall. Snape was hard put to to prevent himself from spluttering. He composed himself and raised an eyebrow.
"Should he perhaps visit Poppy first?"
"Why?" asked McGonagall, and Snape nearly choked. Good lord, was the woman blind? The boy looked. . .absolutely fine. Oh yes, of course, concealing charms.
"Finite incantatem" he murmered. Nothing happened.
"Finite incantatem! Reducto distinguo! Disalterum Personis!" he bellowed, waving his wand about. McGonagall and Harry were looking at him in amazement, McGonagall standing in front of Harry as though to protect him from the rather rabid looking master.
"Severus, I don't think there are any charms on him" she said gently, trying to hold back a smirk. Snape was just about to tell her that there most certainly were when he suddenly caught the pleading look in Potter's eyes. He had no idea why he heeded it; normally he couldn't have cared less. But still. . .
"Very well, however I want to see you tonight in my office, Potter, to sort out all the work you have missed. Wouldn't want to fail your exam now, would you?"
Harry nodded silently, and followed McGonagall. He was already dressed and Snape wondered whether the boy had been expecting these summons.
************************************
"Harry, I must admit I am very disappointed in you. It is simply not acceptable for a student to miss so many lessons for no good reason. You will lose the advantage you have gained in Transfiguration in particular."
Harry nodded and looked contrite. He knew that he had been stupid to miss so many classes, but all this stuff with Snape hadn't exactly made him feel ecstatic. He had prayed for a father and mother since he could remember, and finally his prayers were granted with that bastard? Someone up there must really hate him, he decided wryly. Suddenly, Harry realised that McGonagall was still talking.
". . .so you must catch up the work you have missed from all of your teachers, and I hope you will carry on with the good progress you made at the start of this term. Professor Flitwick is very pleased with you, in fact I am sure all the teachers will be happy to have you back. Except possibly Professor Snape. . ."
Harry forced himself to smile along with his Head of House. She was right; Snape probably disliked him even more than the Dursleys did, which was some feat. Sad, but true. It would have been better if neither of them had known.
"Anyway, Harry, if that's all then you had better go and have some lunch. Of course, if there's anything we can do to make things easier. . ."
"Well, professor, do you think it would be possible for me to drop one of my classes?"
McGonagall regarded Harry sadly.
"No, Harry, I'm afraid we can't allow you to do that. Which class was it, and why?"
"Well, I was thinking of Divination. I have so much work, especially with these extra duelling classes, and . . .well . . .it is a bit upsetting when professor Trelawny predicts my death so often, I am sure it's putting me off my work. . ."
McGonagall snorted. "You are a Slytherin at heart, Mr Potter. I'll have a word with the headmaster to see what can be done; goodness knows she has enough students to terrorise, she won't miss another one. . ."
"Thank you!" said Harry, diving out of the door. He wasn't planning on eating but Dean and Seamus dragged him into the hall and practically forced food down his throat. For one of the first times he could remember, Harry felt like his friends actually cared. When he had been friends with Ron and Hermione had had always been afraid of offending Ron and upsetting Hermione. With Seamus and Dean he felt. . .free. Free to be himself.
But he still had to go and meet his birth father. . .
*******************************
Snape paced agitatedly before the fire, absently talking to Dumbledore's head. He didn't hear footsteps entering the room.
"How is this going to work, Dumbledore? We're never going to get along. It would have been better if neither of us had found out! He hates me and I hate him, that's the way it always has been and the way it always should be."
"Now now, Severus. Everything in our world happens for a reason. If you and Harry were not meant to find out the truth then you wouldn't have. You must just make the best of it. Lemon drop?"
Snape groaned and rolled his eyes then continued as though he hadn't heard the wizard's last words.
"He told me he'd rather live with muggles than me, and if that isn't bad I don't know what is. This will just hang over us and make him even more irritating. If that's possible. Which I highly doubt it is."
"Or it could make you even more of a snarky bastard than you already are to him!"
Snape nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Draco's furious voice behind him.
"Right then, I'll let you two discuss this" said Dumbledore's head, disappearing with a pop.
"How dare you talk to me like that?" exclaimed Snape.
"Because you are his father. You both need a family and you are both too bloody stubborn to admit it. How do you know that you didn't have a chance? I saw you being a bastard to him recently. You're meant to treat your children differently when you know who they are!"
"But. . .I. . .how dare you. . ."
"Shut up! I've seen you both suffer so much these last few days and I'm sick and tired of it. What, were you expecting him to leap into your arms? You have villified him ever since he came here!"
"Yes, well, that's hardly the point. He was equally. . ."
"It is the point, and of course he hated you! You were horrible to him first and besides, he never knew anything about you. You loved his mother, for Merlin's sake! Would it have killed you to talk about her for once?"
Draco knew he had gone too far. Snape flinched as though he had been slapped.
"I see her, every time I look at him. But everything that is her is dwarfed by Potter. It's like seeing her dead again." He whispered in a pained voice, and brushed past Draco who stood rigid and shocked.
"Oh Merlin" he murmered, hearing the door to Snape's bedroom slam shut.
********************************************
Snape didn't know how long he lay on his bed. Draco's words had given him a lot to think about. He had been unfair to Harry. But he had never had any reason to believe he was anything but James Potter through and through. Nothing good ever happened to Severus Snape, and he was not going to believe that was going to change after all these years.
This is all the innocent muggles I tortured
He would never find happiness; he had turned from that path many years ago. Now in his sleep, when he actually got any, he heard pain filled screams.
Those are all the people I betrayed
He would never find warmth, or release. That was why he would stay in the dungeons as far as possible. The physical warmth only made the ice of his soul grip his heart more tightly.
This is life's revenge.
***************************************
Harry went to the dungeons that night, but there was no reply, and not a little relieved he hastened back to the Gryffindor rooms. When he got upstairs he pulled back his curtains and found a bottle on his bed on top of a note marked with a familiar hand. The note contained no preamble which was hardly surprising.
"This is a slightly adulterated version of the Dreamless Sleep Potion. It will not cause an addiction. You may continue using it as long as you wish.
Professor Severus Snape."
Surprised, Harry gulped down the potion and felt waves of sleep wash over him. His last conscious thought was, 'Could it be that Snape isn't so bad?'
He slept well that night, and went to the library the next morning to look up some more hexes he could use on Professor Flitwick that lunchtime. He worked on shielding charms with Dean and Seamus until he could hold up a fairly good shield through several curses, and then looked up some funny hexes. He learnt the stinging curse (Bourdonus) and the waking sleep curse (Dormientes) and then, deciding it would be amusing, a transfiguration that would change the person's perception of their body shape (altero aedificio). If it was possible, he was ready to duel.
He and Flitwick walked to the middle of the room and bowed, holding their wands in the accepted position. The charms professor started the duel with a curse which Harry quickly blocked.
"Stupefy!"
"Rictusempera!"
"Titellandus!" Harry fell to his knees wheezing with the effects of a tickling charm. Flitwick laughed and as the short wizard briefly let down his guard Harry attacked.
"Bourdonus!"
However, Flitwick blocked the curse with amazing peed for such an old wizard and started hurling hexes as Harry. Harry felt himself tiring, and was preparing to give up when suddenly he realised something he could do that even Flitwick could not counter. With renewed enthusiasm he began blocking and firing curses again, this time with a purpose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flitwick was getting worried. Learning spells didn't put people at any advantage with duelling. It was something that couldn't really be taught as it relied on the person using tactics. And obviously, whoever you duelled had different methods and so required different tactics. Unfortunately, Harry didn't seem to have grasped this. Flitwick was bored out of his mind, throwing random curses at the boy, not aiming to hurt. The only good thing about Harry's duelling was his shield, which could deflect or absorb reasonably strong curses. But Voldemort only used the unforgiveables. . .and they were unblockable.
However, just when he was about to call off the duel, he saw a flash of determination cross the boy's face. Slightly worried, he put up his shield as Harry threw curses at him. This was better! Harry was searching for weaknesses and charms which Flitwick didn't like. Much better!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry suddenly knew what he was doing. He could feel which curses Flitwick tried harder to deflect than others and began to be able to predict when the wizard would block and when he would move out of the way. Through this process he predicted Flitwick moving left, and was able to direct his spell straight at the wizard before he could block it.
"Altero aedificio!"
At first, Flitwick thought the spell which had hit him hadn't worked, although he had felt the magical surge. Then he tried to move and felt himself waver. This was a new curse! He felt like he was twice the height! Again he teetered around on legs that seemed too long for him, barely noticing Harry disarming him and casting the counter spell.
"Well well well" came a voice from the doorway. "Very impressive, Harry. Congratulations!"
"Thank you, Headmaster" said Harry, smiling.
For the first time in his life, he felt proud.
"What do we do?"
Seamus shrugged, his face pained. "He can't go to McGonagall like this, can he?"
Dean snorted.
"So, what do we do? Harry, do you want to see Pomfrey?"
"Go away. I don't want to see anyone."
"Harry, mate, you're going to get really ill if you don't get some help. . ."
Silence.
"Look, I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey. Seamus, you stay here with Harry and I'll. . ." Whatever Dean was going to do was lost in his startled yelp. "What are YOU doing here?. . .sir. . ."
Snape sneered.
"Professor McGonagall sent me here to collect Potter." He lied smoothly, and then turned his glare on the two Gryffindors. "What are you doing here?"
There was an uneasy silence and Seamus finally spoke.
"Professor McGonagall sent us to collect Harry."
Merlin, Severus, you should be able to lie better than that. Of course Minerva sent them!
There was another awkward silence until Snape finally snapped "Well, what are you waiting for? Go back to your lessons!"
Seamus and Dean fled. When they had reached the comparative safety of the Transfiguration room Dean turned to his friend, wide eyed.
"What the hell was that about? How did Snape get in? And why was he lying?" Seamus shrugged, looking baffled. Their conversation was quickly stopped by McGonagall coming over.
"Is he waiting?"
"Um, no professor, professor Snape came while we were getting Harry and said you'd sent him. Then he kicked us out!"
McGonagall went white as a sheet, thinking inwardly 'You've made a mistake here, Albus. He's going to kill Harry!' and took off towards the Gryffindor rooms.
*****************************************
Snape was livid.
"What the hell happened to taking care of yourself?" he bellowed, spit flying from his mouth. "Can you not even be entrusted with a simple task, like keeping yourself alive?"
"Can you not even be entrusted with the simple task of keeping your bloody great nose out of places it isn't wanted?" yelled Harry, shocking Snape.
"How dare you talk. . ."
"To me like that, ten points. . ."
"From Gryffindor" finished Snape before he suddenly realised Potter had been completely mocking him. To make matters even worse he heard a muffled snort from the door and saw McGonagall standing there.
"How dare you talk. . ." he said before realising he would be walking into exactly the same trap again. Furiously he flushed.
"Why were you up here, Severus?"
"I was going to see why Mr Potter has not been attending lessons recently."
"And you did not see fit to come and discuss this with me, his Head of House?"
"No" said Snape, sticking his nose in the air. "I did not."
Rolling her eyes, McGonagall turned to Harry.
"Well, Mr Potter, come on. We need to discuss your current behaviour" said McGonagall. Snape was hard put to to prevent himself from spluttering. He composed himself and raised an eyebrow.
"Should he perhaps visit Poppy first?"
"Why?" asked McGonagall, and Snape nearly choked. Good lord, was the woman blind? The boy looked. . .absolutely fine. Oh yes, of course, concealing charms.
"Finite incantatem" he murmered. Nothing happened.
"Finite incantatem! Reducto distinguo! Disalterum Personis!" he bellowed, waving his wand about. McGonagall and Harry were looking at him in amazement, McGonagall standing in front of Harry as though to protect him from the rather rabid looking master.
"Severus, I don't think there are any charms on him" she said gently, trying to hold back a smirk. Snape was just about to tell her that there most certainly were when he suddenly caught the pleading look in Potter's eyes. He had no idea why he heeded it; normally he couldn't have cared less. But still. . .
"Very well, however I want to see you tonight in my office, Potter, to sort out all the work you have missed. Wouldn't want to fail your exam now, would you?"
Harry nodded silently, and followed McGonagall. He was already dressed and Snape wondered whether the boy had been expecting these summons.
************************************
"Harry, I must admit I am very disappointed in you. It is simply not acceptable for a student to miss so many lessons for no good reason. You will lose the advantage you have gained in Transfiguration in particular."
Harry nodded and looked contrite. He knew that he had been stupid to miss so many classes, but all this stuff with Snape hadn't exactly made him feel ecstatic. He had prayed for a father and mother since he could remember, and finally his prayers were granted with that bastard? Someone up there must really hate him, he decided wryly. Suddenly, Harry realised that McGonagall was still talking.
". . .so you must catch up the work you have missed from all of your teachers, and I hope you will carry on with the good progress you made at the start of this term. Professor Flitwick is very pleased with you, in fact I am sure all the teachers will be happy to have you back. Except possibly Professor Snape. . ."
Harry forced himself to smile along with his Head of House. She was right; Snape probably disliked him even more than the Dursleys did, which was some feat. Sad, but true. It would have been better if neither of them had known.
"Anyway, Harry, if that's all then you had better go and have some lunch. Of course, if there's anything we can do to make things easier. . ."
"Well, professor, do you think it would be possible for me to drop one of my classes?"
McGonagall regarded Harry sadly.
"No, Harry, I'm afraid we can't allow you to do that. Which class was it, and why?"
"Well, I was thinking of Divination. I have so much work, especially with these extra duelling classes, and . . .well . . .it is a bit upsetting when professor Trelawny predicts my death so often, I am sure it's putting me off my work. . ."
McGonagall snorted. "You are a Slytherin at heart, Mr Potter. I'll have a word with the headmaster to see what can be done; goodness knows she has enough students to terrorise, she won't miss another one. . ."
"Thank you!" said Harry, diving out of the door. He wasn't planning on eating but Dean and Seamus dragged him into the hall and practically forced food down his throat. For one of the first times he could remember, Harry felt like his friends actually cared. When he had been friends with Ron and Hermione had had always been afraid of offending Ron and upsetting Hermione. With Seamus and Dean he felt. . .free. Free to be himself.
But he still had to go and meet his birth father. . .
*******************************
Snape paced agitatedly before the fire, absently talking to Dumbledore's head. He didn't hear footsteps entering the room.
"How is this going to work, Dumbledore? We're never going to get along. It would have been better if neither of us had found out! He hates me and I hate him, that's the way it always has been and the way it always should be."
"Now now, Severus. Everything in our world happens for a reason. If you and Harry were not meant to find out the truth then you wouldn't have. You must just make the best of it. Lemon drop?"
Snape groaned and rolled his eyes then continued as though he hadn't heard the wizard's last words.
"He told me he'd rather live with muggles than me, and if that isn't bad I don't know what is. This will just hang over us and make him even more irritating. If that's possible. Which I highly doubt it is."
"Or it could make you even more of a snarky bastard than you already are to him!"
Snape nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Draco's furious voice behind him.
"Right then, I'll let you two discuss this" said Dumbledore's head, disappearing with a pop.
"How dare you talk to me like that?" exclaimed Snape.
"Because you are his father. You both need a family and you are both too bloody stubborn to admit it. How do you know that you didn't have a chance? I saw you being a bastard to him recently. You're meant to treat your children differently when you know who they are!"
"But. . .I. . .how dare you. . ."
"Shut up! I've seen you both suffer so much these last few days and I'm sick and tired of it. What, were you expecting him to leap into your arms? You have villified him ever since he came here!"
"Yes, well, that's hardly the point. He was equally. . ."
"It is the point, and of course he hated you! You were horrible to him first and besides, he never knew anything about you. You loved his mother, for Merlin's sake! Would it have killed you to talk about her for once?"
Draco knew he had gone too far. Snape flinched as though he had been slapped.
"I see her, every time I look at him. But everything that is her is dwarfed by Potter. It's like seeing her dead again." He whispered in a pained voice, and brushed past Draco who stood rigid and shocked.
"Oh Merlin" he murmered, hearing the door to Snape's bedroom slam shut.
********************************************
Snape didn't know how long he lay on his bed. Draco's words had given him a lot to think about. He had been unfair to Harry. But he had never had any reason to believe he was anything but James Potter through and through. Nothing good ever happened to Severus Snape, and he was not going to believe that was going to change after all these years.
This is all the innocent muggles I tortured
He would never find happiness; he had turned from that path many years ago. Now in his sleep, when he actually got any, he heard pain filled screams.
Those are all the people I betrayed
He would never find warmth, or release. That was why he would stay in the dungeons as far as possible. The physical warmth only made the ice of his soul grip his heart more tightly.
This is life's revenge.
***************************************
Harry went to the dungeons that night, but there was no reply, and not a little relieved he hastened back to the Gryffindor rooms. When he got upstairs he pulled back his curtains and found a bottle on his bed on top of a note marked with a familiar hand. The note contained no preamble which was hardly surprising.
"This is a slightly adulterated version of the Dreamless Sleep Potion. It will not cause an addiction. You may continue using it as long as you wish.
Professor Severus Snape."
Surprised, Harry gulped down the potion and felt waves of sleep wash over him. His last conscious thought was, 'Could it be that Snape isn't so bad?'
He slept well that night, and went to the library the next morning to look up some more hexes he could use on Professor Flitwick that lunchtime. He worked on shielding charms with Dean and Seamus until he could hold up a fairly good shield through several curses, and then looked up some funny hexes. He learnt the stinging curse (Bourdonus) and the waking sleep curse (Dormientes) and then, deciding it would be amusing, a transfiguration that would change the person's perception of their body shape (altero aedificio). If it was possible, he was ready to duel.
He and Flitwick walked to the middle of the room and bowed, holding their wands in the accepted position. The charms professor started the duel with a curse which Harry quickly blocked.
"Stupefy!"
"Rictusempera!"
"Titellandus!" Harry fell to his knees wheezing with the effects of a tickling charm. Flitwick laughed and as the short wizard briefly let down his guard Harry attacked.
"Bourdonus!"
However, Flitwick blocked the curse with amazing peed for such an old wizard and started hurling hexes as Harry. Harry felt himself tiring, and was preparing to give up when suddenly he realised something he could do that even Flitwick could not counter. With renewed enthusiasm he began blocking and firing curses again, this time with a purpose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flitwick was getting worried. Learning spells didn't put people at any advantage with duelling. It was something that couldn't really be taught as it relied on the person using tactics. And obviously, whoever you duelled had different methods and so required different tactics. Unfortunately, Harry didn't seem to have grasped this. Flitwick was bored out of his mind, throwing random curses at the boy, not aiming to hurt. The only good thing about Harry's duelling was his shield, which could deflect or absorb reasonably strong curses. But Voldemort only used the unforgiveables. . .and they were unblockable.
However, just when he was about to call off the duel, he saw a flash of determination cross the boy's face. Slightly worried, he put up his shield as Harry threw curses at him. This was better! Harry was searching for weaknesses and charms which Flitwick didn't like. Much better!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry suddenly knew what he was doing. He could feel which curses Flitwick tried harder to deflect than others and began to be able to predict when the wizard would block and when he would move out of the way. Through this process he predicted Flitwick moving left, and was able to direct his spell straight at the wizard before he could block it.
"Altero aedificio!"
At first, Flitwick thought the spell which had hit him hadn't worked, although he had felt the magical surge. Then he tried to move and felt himself waver. This was a new curse! He felt like he was twice the height! Again he teetered around on legs that seemed too long for him, barely noticing Harry disarming him and casting the counter spell.
"Well well well" came a voice from the doorway. "Very impressive, Harry. Congratulations!"
"Thank you, Headmaster" said Harry, smiling.
For the first time in his life, he felt proud.