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and Morgana for reviewing!
A Different Life
Chapter 9 - Trust
"Harry?" Dumbledore said, shocked at seeing Harry outside his office early in the morning looking upset.
"I saw it, that man was right, I saw it just where he said I would." Harry said all in a rush, breathing heavily.
"Why don't you come into my office Harry... you can have a lemon drop and we can talk." Dumbledore said soothingly.
Harry just nodded numbly.
Once they were both settled in Albus was the first to speak.
"Now Harry, what did you see?"
Harry remained silent, just staring at the ground.
"Harry..." Dumbledore said, reaching over and taking Harry's head in his hand, making him look into his eyes.
"The dark mark..." Harry whispered.
He didn't need to say anymore, Dumbledore knew what he meant.
He pulled back from Harry and sat back in thought.
"What did you mean when you said 'that man was right'?" Dumbledore asked, wondering who had told Harry, but having a good idea who it was.
"That man that was here yesterday, he told me- he told me that Severus was a Death Eater and..." Harry didn't continue on, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to spill.
"It's alright Harry, take your time. I know this must be hard for you. But it is important that you tell me what this man said. Please Harry." Albus said, watching the way Harry was reacting carefully.
"He said that he would make sure that I would be going back to the Dursleys, that Severus had given up a lot to take care of me, that he was getting annoyed with me and that soon he would do to me what my uncle had done to me." Harry said in a small voice. A few stray tears escaping his eyes.
Anger flashed through Dumbledore's face, fury was in the depth of his eyes, but as fast and it came it went.
"Harry, I want to assure you that Severus would never hurt you. There is more to him being a Death Eater then you know, which is something that I will let him tell you about. Just know that he was and always is fighting for the good side. You can trust him." Dumbledore said.
Harry nodded, feeling a bit better then what he had felt before.
"I do believe Remus has just arrived late last night. You should pay him a visit, I'm sure he would like that." Albus said, smiling at the smile Harry had on his face at the thought of seeing Remus again.
"Go, run along child, have some fun." Dumbledore smiled
"I think I'll go check on Owl first, see how she's settling in, where can I find Remus?" Harry asked, almost as if an after thought.
"I think you will be able to find him in the staff room." Albus said, watching as Harry got up and began to head for the door.
Just before he left, Harry poked his head back in and said "Thanks."
Harry wondered out and headed in what he was pretty sure was the direction of the Owlery.
**********************************************
"Severus..." Dumbledore said, finally finding him in a classroom, looking for Harry.
"Albus, thank God your here, I can't find Harry. I think he saw my Dark Mark and took off." Severus said in a rush, looking behind a few desks.
"Severus, you can stop looking, I know where Harry is. He was just in my office a moment ago. We had a talk and now I need to talk to you.
****************************************************
Harry spent about 20mins with Owl before she flew off. He watched her go and then headed down the stairs in search for the staff room. He actually didn't know where it was but he was sure it wouldn't be too hard to find.
And after getting himself completely lost he managed to find someone.
"Harry? Is that you?" A lady said.
Harry nodded, not knowing if he should trust this person or not.
"You look just like James! I see you have Lily's eyes. Are you lost?" the lady said, smiling nicely at him. He quickly decided that he liked this person.
"A bit, I'm looking for Remus, I was told he would be in the Staff room, but I'm not sure where that is." Harry said, looking around, realising he didn't even remember what direction he had come in.
"Not to worry dear, I was just heading there myself, I'll take you." The lady said, and they started walking together.
"My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall, I teach Transfiguration here."
They had a brief conversation and soon reached the staff room.
Harry immediately spotted Remus and he ran over to him, yelling his thanks to the professor over his shoulder as he was running.
He stopped in front of the sitting figure of Remus smiling at him.
"Hello Remus"
"Hello Harry, come to see me have you?" Remus said, a knowing smile on his face.
Harry nodded.
"Well I was just about to head out back to my rooms, would you like to join me." Remus asked, watching as Harry nodded enthusiastically.
"Come on."
Harry took note of where they went so he knew where to go next time if he needed to find Remus.
After spending a lot of time talking with Remus and hearing a couple of stories about his parents Harry started to feel very tired. He spent lunch with Remus and as soon as he was finished he went over to the couch that Remus had and laid down on it, feeling his eyes drooping and finally falling asleep.
****************************************
Remus watched as Harry got up and went over to his couch, falling asleep. He could tell Harry had been tired and was wondering when he would fall asleep. At one point he thought he was going to on his plate of food, but luckily he didn't.
Taking one last look at Harry, Remus went and got some parchment out, and started working on ideas for his lessons.
*******************************************
Just before dinner started Remus woke Harry up.
"Harry, come on, it's time to get up." But Harry barely opened his eyes.
After a few more unsuccessful tries, Remus settled for picking Harry up and taking him down to Severus that way. Harry rested his head on Remus' shoulder as he continued to sleep.
A few minutes later he saw Severus, who was just heading down to his quarters then.
"Severus!" Remus shouted out, trying to get Severus attention.
Severus stopped and turned around. Seeing both Remus and Harry he walked back to them.
"Are you heading back to you quarters?" Remus asked.
"Yes, I was on my way just now." Severus answered, looking at Harry's sleeping form.
"Oh good, then you can take a little load off me." Remus said, smiling at the very light figure in his arms.
Remus handed Harry carefully over to Severus.
"He's been asleep since after lunch, he looked so exhausted, I couldn't even wake him to get him to come down here.
"Hmmm..." Severus said, shifting Harry over a bit to a more comfortable spot.
"Well thankyou for looking after him, I should probably start trying to wake him up soon, otherwise he's going to be up at some un-earthly hour tomorrow morning." Severus said, shaking his head slightly at the thought.
Remus smiled at that. "Yes... well I'll leave you to it." And he started to head back off in the direction he came in.
Severus looked at the sleeping boy right in his arms, soon he would have to explain everything that he was hoping that he would never have to tell him, or at least not for a while.
He sighed and then he too began to head back to his rooms.
********************************************
Once in his rooms Severus placed Harry on the couch, he lit the fire to try and warm up the place a bit more and then turned back to Harry.
"Harry..." Severus said, placing his hand on Harry's head gently.
Harry stirred slightly, but remained sleeping.
"Harry..." Severus said again shaking him gently. Still nothing.
Severus thought for a second and then pulled his wand out and from nowhere a bucket of water appeared and splashed Harry in the face, completely drenching him. And then as soon as Harry shot up from where he was lying he was instantly dried.
He looked accusingly at Severus, trying to get his heart rate back down to a normal level.
"You should know by now I'm not a patient person, now come on, I'm starving. " Severus said, heading into the kitchen, Harry following shortly afterward.
*********************************
Once dinner was over Severus told Harry to get ready for bed and that he would be in shortly to explain some things.
Severus came in a short while later to find Harry already in bed waiting for him.
Severus entered and sat down on the other end of his bed.
"Now, I just want you to listen, if you have any questions you can wait until the end, okay?" Severus said, going into teacher mode.
Harry just nodded.
"Okay... now when I was young, after I just finished school I became a Death Eater. A lot of my friends were and I liked the idea of having power over people. I was excellent at potions so I was always very useful. I did some terrible things, things that I'm not proud of at all.
For three years I was a Death Eater, at first I didn't really do a lot, I just got to make potions and watch. Then after two years it was my turn to finally go out there and prove how loyal I was. I had to torture someone. I was so repulsed by what I had done after, thinking of the person I had become...
I went straight to the Ministry and confessed. I gave them information, not wanting to be set free in return. I knew that I had no right to be free after what I had done. I told the Ministry plans that the Dark Lord had.
Anyway, Dumbledore heard of what I had done, and helped to set me free. He told me that I could become a spy to make amens for what I had done, and that I would be more useful that way then sitting in a cell for the rest of my years.
I agreed, and for a year I passed on information to Dumbledore and the Ministry. I even warned your parents that one of their friends was a mole, told them that Voldemort was going to attack them. That's why they went into hiding. Too bad they still trusted Black.
And then after Voldemort's downfall, I helped the Ministry capture Death Eaters. We didn't get them all of course, some that we did catch got away with it, but a lot did go to Azkaban.
Then after a year Dumbledore asked me to teach Potions here at Hogwarts. At first I didn't want to, but after he asked me why I had become a Death Eater, and since I had because I wanted control over people, well who has better control then a teacher over his class. I suppose I can be a bit much for my students but I doubt I'll ever change." Severus took a bit of a break, watching Harry.
Severus couldn't read the expression on his face.
"I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did Harry, but now I think it's time you tried to get some sleep, me as well. I have to get up early tomorrow. I have a teachers meeting so I want you to stay here and not go wondering around. I shouldn't be too long." Severus said, only remembering the meeting just then. He would never know why Dumbledore had to make a meeting so early, though he knew that Harry would probably be awake anyway. The boy hardly ever slept in. Only a few times had he slept in really late over the summer break. Severus had of course cherished those few times.
Harry nodded, and then lay down and turned over, so he wasn't facing Severus, but the wall instead.
Severus sighed at Harry, and then got up to leave. Just as he was about to walk out the door he waved his wand and the lights went out.
Then he heard a small voice say "Thankyou for telling me..."
And then when Severus looked back at Harry, he was fast asleep.
**********************************
Severus woke up early and quickly got ready. After his robes were on he quickly shot out of his room and into the kitchen. He didn't want his stomach to start rumbling half way through the meeting.
After shoving some toast in his mouth he went to go check on Harry.
When he entered his room he was surprised to find him still asleep.
"Harry...Harry..."Severus said, shaking him a bit.
Harry finally stirred and looked up at Severus.
Severus placed his glasses on him and spoke quietly.
"I'm leaving for that meeting now. I'll be back in a couple of hours. If you get hungry there is some food on the table. Behave yourself and don't go wondering around okay." Severus then took Harry's glasses off and placed them where they had been before and left before Harry could say anything.
Harry lay in bed for a little while longer before getting up and eating some breakfast.
A Different Life
Chapter 9 - Trust
"Harry?" Dumbledore said, shocked at seeing Harry outside his office early in the morning looking upset.
"I saw it, that man was right, I saw it just where he said I would." Harry said all in a rush, breathing heavily.
"Why don't you come into my office Harry... you can have a lemon drop and we can talk." Dumbledore said soothingly.
Harry just nodded numbly.
Once they were both settled in Albus was the first to speak.
"Now Harry, what did you see?"
Harry remained silent, just staring at the ground.
"Harry..." Dumbledore said, reaching over and taking Harry's head in his hand, making him look into his eyes.
"The dark mark..." Harry whispered.
He didn't need to say anymore, Dumbledore knew what he meant.
He pulled back from Harry and sat back in thought.
"What did you mean when you said 'that man was right'?" Dumbledore asked, wondering who had told Harry, but having a good idea who it was.
"That man that was here yesterday, he told me- he told me that Severus was a Death Eater and..." Harry didn't continue on, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to spill.
"It's alright Harry, take your time. I know this must be hard for you. But it is important that you tell me what this man said. Please Harry." Albus said, watching the way Harry was reacting carefully.
"He said that he would make sure that I would be going back to the Dursleys, that Severus had given up a lot to take care of me, that he was getting annoyed with me and that soon he would do to me what my uncle had done to me." Harry said in a small voice. A few stray tears escaping his eyes.
Anger flashed through Dumbledore's face, fury was in the depth of his eyes, but as fast and it came it went.
"Harry, I want to assure you that Severus would never hurt you. There is more to him being a Death Eater then you know, which is something that I will let him tell you about. Just know that he was and always is fighting for the good side. You can trust him." Dumbledore said.
Harry nodded, feeling a bit better then what he had felt before.
"I do believe Remus has just arrived late last night. You should pay him a visit, I'm sure he would like that." Albus said, smiling at the smile Harry had on his face at the thought of seeing Remus again.
"Go, run along child, have some fun." Dumbledore smiled
"I think I'll go check on Owl first, see how she's settling in, where can I find Remus?" Harry asked, almost as if an after thought.
"I think you will be able to find him in the staff room." Albus said, watching as Harry got up and began to head for the door.
Just before he left, Harry poked his head back in and said "Thanks."
Harry wondered out and headed in what he was pretty sure was the direction of the Owlery.
**********************************************
"Severus..." Dumbledore said, finally finding him in a classroom, looking for Harry.
"Albus, thank God your here, I can't find Harry. I think he saw my Dark Mark and took off." Severus said in a rush, looking behind a few desks.
"Severus, you can stop looking, I know where Harry is. He was just in my office a moment ago. We had a talk and now I need to talk to you.
****************************************************
Harry spent about 20mins with Owl before she flew off. He watched her go and then headed down the stairs in search for the staff room. He actually didn't know where it was but he was sure it wouldn't be too hard to find.
And after getting himself completely lost he managed to find someone.
"Harry? Is that you?" A lady said.
Harry nodded, not knowing if he should trust this person or not.
"You look just like James! I see you have Lily's eyes. Are you lost?" the lady said, smiling nicely at him. He quickly decided that he liked this person.
"A bit, I'm looking for Remus, I was told he would be in the Staff room, but I'm not sure where that is." Harry said, looking around, realising he didn't even remember what direction he had come in.
"Not to worry dear, I was just heading there myself, I'll take you." The lady said, and they started walking together.
"My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall, I teach Transfiguration here."
They had a brief conversation and soon reached the staff room.
Harry immediately spotted Remus and he ran over to him, yelling his thanks to the professor over his shoulder as he was running.
He stopped in front of the sitting figure of Remus smiling at him.
"Hello Remus"
"Hello Harry, come to see me have you?" Remus said, a knowing smile on his face.
Harry nodded.
"Well I was just about to head out back to my rooms, would you like to join me." Remus asked, watching as Harry nodded enthusiastically.
"Come on."
Harry took note of where they went so he knew where to go next time if he needed to find Remus.
After spending a lot of time talking with Remus and hearing a couple of stories about his parents Harry started to feel very tired. He spent lunch with Remus and as soon as he was finished he went over to the couch that Remus had and laid down on it, feeling his eyes drooping and finally falling asleep.
****************************************
Remus watched as Harry got up and went over to his couch, falling asleep. He could tell Harry had been tired and was wondering when he would fall asleep. At one point he thought he was going to on his plate of food, but luckily he didn't.
Taking one last look at Harry, Remus went and got some parchment out, and started working on ideas for his lessons.
*******************************************
Just before dinner started Remus woke Harry up.
"Harry, come on, it's time to get up." But Harry barely opened his eyes.
After a few more unsuccessful tries, Remus settled for picking Harry up and taking him down to Severus that way. Harry rested his head on Remus' shoulder as he continued to sleep.
A few minutes later he saw Severus, who was just heading down to his quarters then.
"Severus!" Remus shouted out, trying to get Severus attention.
Severus stopped and turned around. Seeing both Remus and Harry he walked back to them.
"Are you heading back to you quarters?" Remus asked.
"Yes, I was on my way just now." Severus answered, looking at Harry's sleeping form.
"Oh good, then you can take a little load off me." Remus said, smiling at the very light figure in his arms.
Remus handed Harry carefully over to Severus.
"He's been asleep since after lunch, he looked so exhausted, I couldn't even wake him to get him to come down here.
"Hmmm..." Severus said, shifting Harry over a bit to a more comfortable spot.
"Well thankyou for looking after him, I should probably start trying to wake him up soon, otherwise he's going to be up at some un-earthly hour tomorrow morning." Severus said, shaking his head slightly at the thought.
Remus smiled at that. "Yes... well I'll leave you to it." And he started to head back off in the direction he came in.
Severus looked at the sleeping boy right in his arms, soon he would have to explain everything that he was hoping that he would never have to tell him, or at least not for a while.
He sighed and then he too began to head back to his rooms.
********************************************
Once in his rooms Severus placed Harry on the couch, he lit the fire to try and warm up the place a bit more and then turned back to Harry.
"Harry..." Severus said, placing his hand on Harry's head gently.
Harry stirred slightly, but remained sleeping.
"Harry..." Severus said again shaking him gently. Still nothing.
Severus thought for a second and then pulled his wand out and from nowhere a bucket of water appeared and splashed Harry in the face, completely drenching him. And then as soon as Harry shot up from where he was lying he was instantly dried.
He looked accusingly at Severus, trying to get his heart rate back down to a normal level.
"You should know by now I'm not a patient person, now come on, I'm starving. " Severus said, heading into the kitchen, Harry following shortly afterward.
*********************************
Once dinner was over Severus told Harry to get ready for bed and that he would be in shortly to explain some things.
Severus came in a short while later to find Harry already in bed waiting for him.
Severus entered and sat down on the other end of his bed.
"Now, I just want you to listen, if you have any questions you can wait until the end, okay?" Severus said, going into teacher mode.
Harry just nodded.
"Okay... now when I was young, after I just finished school I became a Death Eater. A lot of my friends were and I liked the idea of having power over people. I was excellent at potions so I was always very useful. I did some terrible things, things that I'm not proud of at all.
For three years I was a Death Eater, at first I didn't really do a lot, I just got to make potions and watch. Then after two years it was my turn to finally go out there and prove how loyal I was. I had to torture someone. I was so repulsed by what I had done after, thinking of the person I had become...
I went straight to the Ministry and confessed. I gave them information, not wanting to be set free in return. I knew that I had no right to be free after what I had done. I told the Ministry plans that the Dark Lord had.
Anyway, Dumbledore heard of what I had done, and helped to set me free. He told me that I could become a spy to make amens for what I had done, and that I would be more useful that way then sitting in a cell for the rest of my years.
I agreed, and for a year I passed on information to Dumbledore and the Ministry. I even warned your parents that one of their friends was a mole, told them that Voldemort was going to attack them. That's why they went into hiding. Too bad they still trusted Black.
And then after Voldemort's downfall, I helped the Ministry capture Death Eaters. We didn't get them all of course, some that we did catch got away with it, but a lot did go to Azkaban.
Then after a year Dumbledore asked me to teach Potions here at Hogwarts. At first I didn't want to, but after he asked me why I had become a Death Eater, and since I had because I wanted control over people, well who has better control then a teacher over his class. I suppose I can be a bit much for my students but I doubt I'll ever change." Severus took a bit of a break, watching Harry.
Severus couldn't read the expression on his face.
"I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did Harry, but now I think it's time you tried to get some sleep, me as well. I have to get up early tomorrow. I have a teachers meeting so I want you to stay here and not go wondering around. I shouldn't be too long." Severus said, only remembering the meeting just then. He would never know why Dumbledore had to make a meeting so early, though he knew that Harry would probably be awake anyway. The boy hardly ever slept in. Only a few times had he slept in really late over the summer break. Severus had of course cherished those few times.
Harry nodded, and then lay down and turned over, so he wasn't facing Severus, but the wall instead.
Severus sighed at Harry, and then got up to leave. Just as he was about to walk out the door he waved his wand and the lights went out.
Then he heard a small voice say "Thankyou for telling me..."
And then when Severus looked back at Harry, he was fast asleep.
**********************************
Severus woke up early and quickly got ready. After his robes were on he quickly shot out of his room and into the kitchen. He didn't want his stomach to start rumbling half way through the meeting.
After shoving some toast in his mouth he went to go check on Harry.
When he entered his room he was surprised to find him still asleep.
"Harry...Harry..."Severus said, shaking him a bit.
Harry finally stirred and looked up at Severus.
Severus placed his glasses on him and spoke quietly.
"I'm leaving for that meeting now. I'll be back in a couple of hours. If you get hungry there is some food on the table. Behave yourself and don't go wondering around okay." Severus then took Harry's glasses off and placed them where they had been before and left before Harry could say anything.
Harry lay in bed for a little while longer before getting up and eating some breakfast.