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A Different Life
Chapter 8 - The Talk
Harry was quieter over the last couple of weeks, but he was slowly turning back to normal. He was quite proud of the fact that he hadn't once woke Severus up before 8am, although he often came quite close.
But today was different from any other day, Harry had permission to wake Severus up early, today they had to get ready to leave for Hogwarts. School still didn't start for another week, but teachers had to come early to prepare.
Mostly everything was packed, but they had to leave early and there still were some things that needed to still be put away. Plus Severus had to shrink it all down so they would be able to carry it all instead of having to make several trips.
Harry was sad to see that this was the last time he would be sleeping in this room until possibly next summer holidays. He would really miss it.
Every room was filled with boxes, mostly full of potions that Severus had yet to shrink.
At 6:30am Harry walked into Severus room to find it still pitch black in there, it was always really dark in Severus' room, even though he had a window, Harry suspected that he put a spell on his room to keep it that way in the mornings.
Harry was walking around blindly in the dark when he suddenly tripped over something on the floor. He landed unsteadily on his ankle and heard a not so nice crack.
He bit back a cry as pain surged up his whole leg, throbbing.
After a few seconds he heard some movement and a moment later the room filled with light. Once a very sleepy Severus spotted Harry he was by his side in a flash.
"Oh God Harry, are you okay?" Severus asked, but seeing Harry's eyes watering and the look of pain on his face he didn't even need him to answer.
He looked down at Harry's ankle and could already tell that he had hurt it badly.
Severus picked Harry up and placed him on his bed, carefully avoiding making his ankle make any contact with anything around them.
Harry winced as his ankle touch the bed.
Severus ran out of the room, only to return a little while later with a stack of potions.
"Now I'm no Doctor, so I'm not sure how to mend your bones using a wand, but these potions should help a bit until we get you to Madam Pomfrey." Severus knew that these weren't going to taste nice but it was all he had.
They would heal his bone for a few hours, so he would be able to walk around a bit.
Harry slowly had all the potions, making faces as he did.
He let Harry lay down for a bit, resting before he asked him to stand up. It was a bit shaky at first, but Harry was alright to walk.
After a lot of rushing they arrived at Hogwarts.
Severus led Harry to the Hospital Wing to get his ankle mended, knowing that his potions would wear off soon.
As soon as they got to the Hospital Wing Severus left Harry to go check on their living quarters.
It didn't take long for Madam Pomfrey to heal him, after several tutting at him for not being more careful. She told him that he would have to look out for this ankle, as it was still not completely right after hurting it at the Dursleys. He had had that injury for a while at the Dursleys, and not having it checked out had really damaged it.
He waited for a while for Severus to come back but curiosity got the better of him and he soon found himself wondering around the halls again, though this time it was not in a panic.
Harry was looking at a moving picture on the wall, fascinated by it when a voice behind him made him jump.
"Well if it isn't the famous Harry Potter wondering the halls by himself, one would think he was lost, tut tut, Severus is not doing a very good job is he, Hogwarts is no place for a child-" Lucius Malfoy began but was cut off.
"Harry is not lost and he is not by himself, as I am here. Now may I ask why you are here Lucius?" Severus asked sneering at the anger he saw flashing through Lucius' face.
"I have a meeting with Dumbledore about an annoying-" Lucius looked at Harry "- problem."
Severus glared and looked like he was about to say something when Dumbledore came around the corner.
"Here you are Lucius." Dumbledore then looked to Severus and Harry.
"Severus, Harry." He said, nodding to them, and then he continued. "Lucius, I won't be a moment, I would just like a quick word with Severus and then we can head up to my office."
"Yes, of course." Lucius said, smiling at Dumbledore.
Severus rolled his eyes at him and then walked a little bit away from them, still close enough to be able to see them, but not close enough for them to be able to hear what they were saying.
Harry watched them leave and then turned his attention to Lucius, suddenly feeling very nervous, he knew he should wait for Severus, but that still didn't stop him from wanting to run away from the man in front of him.
Lucius knelled down in front of Harry, so they were directly in front of each other and eye level.
The Lucius smiled and began to talk.
"Don't worry Potter, you'll be back with your Aunt and Uncle soon, I'll see to it personally. There is nothing Snape or Dumbledore can do about it."
Harry looked horrified at the thought. His breathing started to quicken, but he tried to remain as calm as he could.
"I hope you realise what Severus has gone for you, what he has given up just to take care of you. He has put his life on hold just for you. And I'm sure he would be getting annoyed of you by now, who wouldn't." Lucius said with quite a lot of disgust in his voice. "It will only be a matter of time before he gets so sick of you Potter, and does what you claim you Uncle did to you."
"No, no you're wrong, he would never..." Harry said, hoping he sounded more confident then he felt.
"How can you be so sure Potter? I mean do you really know him that well? After all, he is a Death Eater-" Lucius then gasped, bringing his hand to cover his mouth like he had just said something he wasn't meant to. If Harry had looked closely he would have noticed that behind his hand was a smile.
"No." Harry gasped, knowing Severus would never be a Death Eater, remembering them from when Dumbledore had come over and explained what they were to him, followers of the wizard who killed his parents.
"Really Potter, well there is one way you can be sure. Look at his left forearm, there will lay a dark mark, a skull with a snake. The mark of a Death Eater. If there is not one there, then I guess you are right, he is not a Death Eater..." Lucius smiled, knowing full well that Severus would have the dark mark there, as he did on his own arm.
Either of them said anything after that, Harry was deep in thought, trying to reassure himself that Severus would never allow him to return to his Aunt and Uncle's, that Severus would never hurt him and that he was never a Death Eater.
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So why the hell is Lucius here?" Severus said, trying to keep his voice down.
"Lucius is here for a meeting about Harry staying here." Dumbledore said calmly. But seeing the look on Severus' face he continued.
"Don't worry Severus, so far their only strong argument has been that there are certain protections on the Dursleys house that have been helping to protect Harry, only ones that a blood relative can give."
Severus looked like he was going to give Dumbledore an earful about what type of 'protections' the Dursleys had given Harry, when Albus held his hand up indicating for him to stop.
"I know Severus, I know... well Hogwarts is an even safer place for Harry then the Dursleys, so they won't take him while he is here, and then after being with you for a year. It would be very unlikely that they will remove him, he might have to testify that he is happy to stay with you though. Now I mustn't keep Lucius waiting. Make sure you give Harry a tour of Hogwarts, so it might help prevent future problems." Dumbledore said, peering over his glasses.
Severus nodded and both of them walked over to Lucius and Harry.
As soon as Lucius saw them coming towards them, he stood up and faced them.
What Severus saw made him narrow his eyes in suspicion. Harry looked very upset and Lucius had a very evil grin on his face.
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"Are you okay Harry?" Severus said, worried. Harry had barely said two words to him through the entire tour of Hogwarts, at first he thought that Harry was probably amazed by the sights he was seeing, but now he thought it was something more. He wanted to know what Lucius had said to him.
"Fine..." Harry whispered, watching a painting as they walked past it. The person in it was waving madly to him.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Severus said, stopping Harry so they could talk.
"Am I going back to the Dursleys?" Harry asked, his face completely sad.
"WHAT?!" Severus yelled, not expecting that to be what Harry said. Lowering his voice he continued. "Of course not Harry, you'll never go back there, I promised remember."
Harry remembered that promise. But he also made the decision that he would check Severus for the mark the next morning, since he knew he would be up before Severus, but he also knew that he wouldn't find anything. He had complete faith that Severus would never become a Death Eater. EVER!
Harry smiled at Severus, as if trying to reassure him.
"Harry, whatever made you think that you would be going back there?" Severus asked, though having a feeling Lucius had something to do with it.
"Umm..." Harry said, not really wanting to tell Severus, but seeing the look on his face he continued. "That man that was here earlier."
Harry looked down at his feet.
Severus breathed out, knowing the next time he saw Lucius he was going to have very strong words with him.
"Did he say anything else Harry?" Severus asked.
Harry shook his head, indicating 'no' but Severus highly doubted that, but didn't pressure the boy with it anymore.
And they continued on with the tour.
Severus didn't take him outside as it was getting late, he didn't think they would be able to see any of it anyway. So they headed off to their rooms.
Harry liked his room he had here as well, it looked a lot like the one he had at Snape Manor, except everything was placed in different places, and they were in different types of materials, different types of wood. It seemed a bit colder, the whole place felt colder, but that was probably because they were in a dungeon.
His room was down the hall from Severus.
The place was a lot different from what he was used to. As soon as you went through the portrait hole, you were in a living room, which had seats and a fireplace. Then there was a kitchen, with a table that you could eat at, a study room, with loads of books and a giant desk to work at. Then Harry's room, then a bathroom and then Severus' room, which looked exactly the same as what his room looked like back at Snape Manor.
After eating dinner, Harry made his way to bed. Feeling exhausted from the days activities.
Severus watched as Harry left, knowing something was still bothering the boy and desperately wanting to know what. But also knowing that he couldn't force Harry to tell him, the boy had to be the one to tell him.
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Harry woke up early the next morning. He had gotten hardly any sleep that night, but he had to know, he had to be sure. He quickly got changed and then quietly snuck out of his room and made his way down to Severus' room.
It was still dark in his room, and Harry suspected that there still was a spell to make it that way, but it didn't seem as dark as it normally was. It was light enough to make things out, probably so if Harry needed to come in, he would hurt himself trying to find his way around.
Harry made his way over to Severus' sleeping form, only to find he was in the middle of the double bed. So Harry crawled up onto the bed and over to Severus, trying not to make the bed move too much.
Luckily Severus' arms were not under the covers, so Harry could easily get to his left arm.
He carefully lifted Severus' sleeve up, careful not to be too rough and wake him up.
Finally the sleeve was up as high as Harry could get it, he slowly turned his arm around so he could see if there was a tattoo. It was hard to see since it was so dark, but Harry could slightly see a mark on Severus' forearm. The dark mark was there, just where that man had said it would be. So it was true. Severus was a Death Eater.
Harry gasped and tried to move away, but he soon ran out of bed and fell onto the floor with a loud thump.
"What?" Severus immediately woke up, sitting straight up in his bed, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"Harry?" Severus said, squinting his eyes at the retreating figure, heading slowly towards the door.
"What's wrong?" Severus asked, now confused as to what Harry was doing.
All Harry could think of was that he had to get away from Severus. He had to leave now. And without a second thought, Harry fled from the room, leaving a stunned and confused Severus behind.
Harry ran straight out of the portrait hole and didn't stop running until he needed to catch his breath.
When he looked up he found himself outside Dumbledore's office, remembering the old looking Gargoyle that guarded his office. It was strange, he wasn't really concentrating on where he was going, yet he ended up here. He was just about to keep going down the corridor when he saw the gargoyle move before him, and out stepped Dumbledore himself.
*****************************************
Severus watched as Harry ran out of the room, as though scared of something. Severus went to get up and see what was wrong when he noticed his left sleeve was up, showing his tattoo to all who could see.
'Oh God, Harry had seen it!'
Severus ran out of his rooms in search of Harry, only bothering to mutter a spell as he looked for Harry that changed his clothes.
A Different Life
Chapter 8 - The Talk
Harry was quieter over the last couple of weeks, but he was slowly turning back to normal. He was quite proud of the fact that he hadn't once woke Severus up before 8am, although he often came quite close.
But today was different from any other day, Harry had permission to wake Severus up early, today they had to get ready to leave for Hogwarts. School still didn't start for another week, but teachers had to come early to prepare.
Mostly everything was packed, but they had to leave early and there still were some things that needed to still be put away. Plus Severus had to shrink it all down so they would be able to carry it all instead of having to make several trips.
Harry was sad to see that this was the last time he would be sleeping in this room until possibly next summer holidays. He would really miss it.
Every room was filled with boxes, mostly full of potions that Severus had yet to shrink.
At 6:30am Harry walked into Severus room to find it still pitch black in there, it was always really dark in Severus' room, even though he had a window, Harry suspected that he put a spell on his room to keep it that way in the mornings.
Harry was walking around blindly in the dark when he suddenly tripped over something on the floor. He landed unsteadily on his ankle and heard a not so nice crack.
He bit back a cry as pain surged up his whole leg, throbbing.
After a few seconds he heard some movement and a moment later the room filled with light. Once a very sleepy Severus spotted Harry he was by his side in a flash.
"Oh God Harry, are you okay?" Severus asked, but seeing Harry's eyes watering and the look of pain on his face he didn't even need him to answer.
He looked down at Harry's ankle and could already tell that he had hurt it badly.
Severus picked Harry up and placed him on his bed, carefully avoiding making his ankle make any contact with anything around them.
Harry winced as his ankle touch the bed.
Severus ran out of the room, only to return a little while later with a stack of potions.
"Now I'm no Doctor, so I'm not sure how to mend your bones using a wand, but these potions should help a bit until we get you to Madam Pomfrey." Severus knew that these weren't going to taste nice but it was all he had.
They would heal his bone for a few hours, so he would be able to walk around a bit.
Harry slowly had all the potions, making faces as he did.
He let Harry lay down for a bit, resting before he asked him to stand up. It was a bit shaky at first, but Harry was alright to walk.
After a lot of rushing they arrived at Hogwarts.
Severus led Harry to the Hospital Wing to get his ankle mended, knowing that his potions would wear off soon.
As soon as they got to the Hospital Wing Severus left Harry to go check on their living quarters.
It didn't take long for Madam Pomfrey to heal him, after several tutting at him for not being more careful. She told him that he would have to look out for this ankle, as it was still not completely right after hurting it at the Dursleys. He had had that injury for a while at the Dursleys, and not having it checked out had really damaged it.
He waited for a while for Severus to come back but curiosity got the better of him and he soon found himself wondering around the halls again, though this time it was not in a panic.
Harry was looking at a moving picture on the wall, fascinated by it when a voice behind him made him jump.
"Well if it isn't the famous Harry Potter wondering the halls by himself, one would think he was lost, tut tut, Severus is not doing a very good job is he, Hogwarts is no place for a child-" Lucius Malfoy began but was cut off.
"Harry is not lost and he is not by himself, as I am here. Now may I ask why you are here Lucius?" Severus asked sneering at the anger he saw flashing through Lucius' face.
"I have a meeting with Dumbledore about an annoying-" Lucius looked at Harry "- problem."
Severus glared and looked like he was about to say something when Dumbledore came around the corner.
"Here you are Lucius." Dumbledore then looked to Severus and Harry.
"Severus, Harry." He said, nodding to them, and then he continued. "Lucius, I won't be a moment, I would just like a quick word with Severus and then we can head up to my office."
"Yes, of course." Lucius said, smiling at Dumbledore.
Severus rolled his eyes at him and then walked a little bit away from them, still close enough to be able to see them, but not close enough for them to be able to hear what they were saying.
Harry watched them leave and then turned his attention to Lucius, suddenly feeling very nervous, he knew he should wait for Severus, but that still didn't stop him from wanting to run away from the man in front of him.
Lucius knelled down in front of Harry, so they were directly in front of each other and eye level.
The Lucius smiled and began to talk.
"Don't worry Potter, you'll be back with your Aunt and Uncle soon, I'll see to it personally. There is nothing Snape or Dumbledore can do about it."
Harry looked horrified at the thought. His breathing started to quicken, but he tried to remain as calm as he could.
"I hope you realise what Severus has gone for you, what he has given up just to take care of you. He has put his life on hold just for you. And I'm sure he would be getting annoyed of you by now, who wouldn't." Lucius said with quite a lot of disgust in his voice. "It will only be a matter of time before he gets so sick of you Potter, and does what you claim you Uncle did to you."
"No, no you're wrong, he would never..." Harry said, hoping he sounded more confident then he felt.
"How can you be so sure Potter? I mean do you really know him that well? After all, he is a Death Eater-" Lucius then gasped, bringing his hand to cover his mouth like he had just said something he wasn't meant to. If Harry had looked closely he would have noticed that behind his hand was a smile.
"No." Harry gasped, knowing Severus would never be a Death Eater, remembering them from when Dumbledore had come over and explained what they were to him, followers of the wizard who killed his parents.
"Really Potter, well there is one way you can be sure. Look at his left forearm, there will lay a dark mark, a skull with a snake. The mark of a Death Eater. If there is not one there, then I guess you are right, he is not a Death Eater..." Lucius smiled, knowing full well that Severus would have the dark mark there, as he did on his own arm.
Either of them said anything after that, Harry was deep in thought, trying to reassure himself that Severus would never allow him to return to his Aunt and Uncle's, that Severus would never hurt him and that he was never a Death Eater.
*******************************************
So why the hell is Lucius here?" Severus said, trying to keep his voice down.
"Lucius is here for a meeting about Harry staying here." Dumbledore said calmly. But seeing the look on Severus' face he continued.
"Don't worry Severus, so far their only strong argument has been that there are certain protections on the Dursleys house that have been helping to protect Harry, only ones that a blood relative can give."
Severus looked like he was going to give Dumbledore an earful about what type of 'protections' the Dursleys had given Harry, when Albus held his hand up indicating for him to stop.
"I know Severus, I know... well Hogwarts is an even safer place for Harry then the Dursleys, so they won't take him while he is here, and then after being with you for a year. It would be very unlikely that they will remove him, he might have to testify that he is happy to stay with you though. Now I mustn't keep Lucius waiting. Make sure you give Harry a tour of Hogwarts, so it might help prevent future problems." Dumbledore said, peering over his glasses.
Severus nodded and both of them walked over to Lucius and Harry.
As soon as Lucius saw them coming towards them, he stood up and faced them.
What Severus saw made him narrow his eyes in suspicion. Harry looked very upset and Lucius had a very evil grin on his face.
***********************************************
"Are you okay Harry?" Severus said, worried. Harry had barely said two words to him through the entire tour of Hogwarts, at first he thought that Harry was probably amazed by the sights he was seeing, but now he thought it was something more. He wanted to know what Lucius had said to him.
"Fine..." Harry whispered, watching a painting as they walked past it. The person in it was waving madly to him.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Severus said, stopping Harry so they could talk.
"Am I going back to the Dursleys?" Harry asked, his face completely sad.
"WHAT?!" Severus yelled, not expecting that to be what Harry said. Lowering his voice he continued. "Of course not Harry, you'll never go back there, I promised remember."
Harry remembered that promise. But he also made the decision that he would check Severus for the mark the next morning, since he knew he would be up before Severus, but he also knew that he wouldn't find anything. He had complete faith that Severus would never become a Death Eater. EVER!
Harry smiled at Severus, as if trying to reassure him.
"Harry, whatever made you think that you would be going back there?" Severus asked, though having a feeling Lucius had something to do with it.
"Umm..." Harry said, not really wanting to tell Severus, but seeing the look on his face he continued. "That man that was here earlier."
Harry looked down at his feet.
Severus breathed out, knowing the next time he saw Lucius he was going to have very strong words with him.
"Did he say anything else Harry?" Severus asked.
Harry shook his head, indicating 'no' but Severus highly doubted that, but didn't pressure the boy with it anymore.
And they continued on with the tour.
Severus didn't take him outside as it was getting late, he didn't think they would be able to see any of it anyway. So they headed off to their rooms.
Harry liked his room he had here as well, it looked a lot like the one he had at Snape Manor, except everything was placed in different places, and they were in different types of materials, different types of wood. It seemed a bit colder, the whole place felt colder, but that was probably because they were in a dungeon.
His room was down the hall from Severus.
The place was a lot different from what he was used to. As soon as you went through the portrait hole, you were in a living room, which had seats and a fireplace. Then there was a kitchen, with a table that you could eat at, a study room, with loads of books and a giant desk to work at. Then Harry's room, then a bathroom and then Severus' room, which looked exactly the same as what his room looked like back at Snape Manor.
After eating dinner, Harry made his way to bed. Feeling exhausted from the days activities.
Severus watched as Harry left, knowing something was still bothering the boy and desperately wanting to know what. But also knowing that he couldn't force Harry to tell him, the boy had to be the one to tell him.
***************************************
Harry woke up early the next morning. He had gotten hardly any sleep that night, but he had to know, he had to be sure. He quickly got changed and then quietly snuck out of his room and made his way down to Severus' room.
It was still dark in his room, and Harry suspected that there still was a spell to make it that way, but it didn't seem as dark as it normally was. It was light enough to make things out, probably so if Harry needed to come in, he would hurt himself trying to find his way around.
Harry made his way over to Severus' sleeping form, only to find he was in the middle of the double bed. So Harry crawled up onto the bed and over to Severus, trying not to make the bed move too much.
Luckily Severus' arms were not under the covers, so Harry could easily get to his left arm.
He carefully lifted Severus' sleeve up, careful not to be too rough and wake him up.
Finally the sleeve was up as high as Harry could get it, he slowly turned his arm around so he could see if there was a tattoo. It was hard to see since it was so dark, but Harry could slightly see a mark on Severus' forearm. The dark mark was there, just where that man had said it would be. So it was true. Severus was a Death Eater.
Harry gasped and tried to move away, but he soon ran out of bed and fell onto the floor with a loud thump.
"What?" Severus immediately woke up, sitting straight up in his bed, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"Harry?" Severus said, squinting his eyes at the retreating figure, heading slowly towards the door.
"What's wrong?" Severus asked, now confused as to what Harry was doing.
All Harry could think of was that he had to get away from Severus. He had to leave now. And without a second thought, Harry fled from the room, leaving a stunned and confused Severus behind.
Harry ran straight out of the portrait hole and didn't stop running until he needed to catch his breath.
When he looked up he found himself outside Dumbledore's office, remembering the old looking Gargoyle that guarded his office. It was strange, he wasn't really concentrating on where he was going, yet he ended up here. He was just about to keep going down the corridor when he saw the gargoyle move before him, and out stepped Dumbledore himself.
*****************************************
Severus watched as Harry ran out of the room, as though scared of something. Severus went to get up and see what was wrong when he noticed his left sleeve was up, showing his tattoo to all who could see.
'Oh God, Harry had seen it!'
Severus ran out of his rooms in search of Harry, only bothering to mutter a spell as he looked for Harry that changed his clothes.