Disclaimer: Oh, for god's sake, just shut up! Why must I disclaim? It's not like you had any mislead idea that I was JK Rowling anyways. Pete oh pete!

SLYTHERIN BOY

Chapter Sixteen: An Impure Vessel

Severus loaded his trunk onto the train glumly. Ron didn't seem any more excited about it that he, although he did keep shooting him curious glances. Severus frowned to himself. He hoped the boy wasn't expecting anything romantic to happen over the summer.

He slumped into the box with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He was adorned in a black robe again. If they'd noticed the change in his appearance from the punk look he'd had at the beginning, they hadn't said anything about it. He leaned his head against the window. He frowned as the train lurched, the entire world seemingly insistent on sending him to his imminent doom.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked him.

"Blah," he responded. "My day seems gray and far away,"

She looked puzzled. "What?" she said.

He smirked slightly. "Sorry," he said. "It's the inner poet," he said.

She lifted an eyebrow. "Going to stay with Ron can't be that bad," she said. Ron looked from her, to Harry, to Severus.

"Maybe so," he said. "I'd rather be in a summerhouse in Hawaii, though," he scowled slightly. "Damned Albus."

"Can't cry over spilt milk, now can we?" Ron said, recalling what Severus had said once before. Severus lifted an eyebrow.

"Actually, I believe I said, 'I guess there's no use crying over spilt milk,'" Severus said. "Just for the record."

"You're like Hermione," Ron said, shaking his head. "You remember the exact words,"

Severus shrugged. "Only when I'm paying attention. It's like my memory is photographic, but selective. It's only so clear if I am really paying attention to something. Like I couldn't tell you a single exact phrase from Binns. Ever," he shrugged. "But I can tell you what Minerva McGonagall said to our class, first day of my first year. I could quote the entire speech."

"Hermione was quoting Dumbledore's speech from last year," Ron shook his head. "I can't do that."

"Well, everyone remembers things differently," Severus shrugged. "You seem to remember the Quidditch cup with disturbing clarity. It all depends on your interests."

"Yeah, you're right, I guess," Ron said.

"So, anyways…" Harry murmured after awhile.

They rode most of the way in a silence, though it wasn't too awkward or uncomfortable. Every once in awhile they'd exchange in conversation, but it never lasted long. The tension of Severus going to Ron's house seemed to have leeched into the air somehow.

It was with some relief that the train began to slow as they approached the station. The students stood up and began removing their robes, as they would be forced to go through the muggle train station to get home.

Severus was wearing a turtleneck sweater of a green so dark it was nearly black, and a pair of dark blue denim jeans. He didn't notice that Ron's eyes traveled over his form briefly as he plunged his long hands into his pockets and brushed his hair with his fingers briefly.

Ron looked at Severus's hair. It was so dark, though he remembered it being incredibly soft. It certainly wasn't the most attractive looking hair. The color was very nice, it was a beautiful raven-black. But it hung kind of limp and lank, and it seemed to have no shine whatsoever, it had the dull look that greasy hair had. He knew from experience, that greasy hair didn't look shinier, but dull and lifeless. It happened to his hair if he skipped washing it. But from touching it, Ron knew it wasn't greasy.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Ron jerked to attention. "Huh?" he said.

Severus looked a bit suspicious. "You were staring at my head."

"I was just looking at your hair," Ron said.

"Why? Is it mussed up?" Severus ran his hand over his hair a bit self-consciously.

Ron shook his head. "No, it's fine. I was just wondering why it feels so differently than it looks." He said.

Severus gave him a peculiar look and he blushed slightly. "Never mind," he said. The doors opened, and they descended the small stairs to meet with Arthur and Molly Weasley.

****

"Jesus," Arthur said, upon seeing him. He reached out, touching a stray lock of hair on Severus's head. "This really is unbelievable, Severus. You're just as I remember you," he shook his head in disbelief. Severus had an irritated look on his face.

"Yes, well," he frowned. Hermione was concerned at how miserable he looked.

"Come on, Potter," a gruff voice nearby said. Harry grimaced, and they looked over to see who had spoken. Severus stared into the face of a large, pink, pig-like man. He seemed to be balding slightly, his blond hair in a blatant comb-over on his round head.

"Hold on a moment," Harry said. He turned back to them, to say his goodbyes.

"Hurry up!" his uncle snarled viciously before Harry had even opened his mouth to say goodbye.

"Give him a minute," Severus said to Vernon, surprising them all. "He hasn't even had a chance to say goodbye yet! You can wait thirty seconds, can't you? Or is that too difficult for you?"

Vernon's eyes bugged, with rage beyond words. "How dare you speak to me that way!" He roared.

"Oh, get over it," Severus growled, narrowing his eyes. "I'm having a bad day and you're just making it worse. Besides, your life isn't the center of the universe, so just shut it."

Vernon opened and closed his mouth wordlessly for a moment, as Ron stared stupidly and Hermione hid a giggle behind her hand.

After a few minutes, Harry turned and walked away. Vernon stood for a moment, giving Severus a death glare, which he simply returned, before stomping off after his nephew.

George, Fred, and Ginny had appeared, and were staring at Snape. They seemed apprehensive at having to share their home with him for three months. He looked at them, a sour expression on his face, before huffing slightly and turning away.

"Well, come on then, kids," Molly said, getting a slight glare from Severus. "Let's go out to the car."

They followed her, though Severus stayed slightly behind the pack, dragging his trunk, his free hand thrust moodily into his pocket.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked.

"Don't talk to me." Severus said simply, not looking up from where his eyes were trained on the ground. Ron looked a bit put-off.

"You're really abnormal," Ron finally said, glaring at Severus, before pulling ahead to join his red-haired brethren.

****

Upon arrival at the Burrow, The Weasley Children all filed out of the car and scattered, leaving Severus with Arthur and Molly. Rain began to fall lightly, sprinkling the three of them. It wet Severus's hair, giving him a sullen look. He wrung his hands slightly behind his back, looking away under the analytical eyes of the Weasley parents.

"Well then," Arthur clapped Severus on the shoulder. "I suppose we should go in before the rain starts coming down hard."

Severus was glad that there was no mention of his current state. They walked into the house, and it felt almost like old times, when Molly and Arthur had been the only affection that he had felt in his short lifetime. He remembered back to when he had lived there, with only the small, fiery-headed baby and Molly and Arthur immediately adopting him as their second son.

They went to the kitchen, slipping into the kitchen chairs. They sat for a few moments, his feet finding the familiar rung on the chair and tucking themselves behind it. He worried his fingers for a few moments, before Molly spoke.

"We're going to put you in Charlie's old room," she said. "We figured since he's the only son who is hardly ever here, it would be easiest for you. There's likely to be a time that he will visit, of course, but we'll just put you in Bill or Percy's room when that happens. We know how you like your privacy,"

"Mm." Severus responded. He felt awkward and unhappy. He frowned, letting his head fall, his forehead thumping against the cool wood of the table. "How can this be happening to me? As if my life isn't already stressful enough," he murmured to the floor. "I am going to have a nervous breakdown if they don't fix me soon,"

"Oh, you are not," Arthur said. "Look, we know you're, well, an adult, so to speak. You can still talk to us, you know. We were so sad when you stopped keeping in contact with us, but we knew you needed to move on from your past. But it seems that God wants to give you another chance at your life,"

"God," Severus looked up, glaring at Arthur, a familiar angry fire in his eyes. "God?! There is no such thing as God, thank you very much. If there were a God then millions of people wouldn't be starving and dying of disease, there wouldn't be any global warming, there wouldn't be any AIDS, and there wouldn't be people being turned back into children at the whim of a fucking potion," he snarled.

"Severus, if you would only pray to him, or ask for his guidance you might see that he really does care about you," Arthur reached out to the boy.

"Look," Severus snapped. "I didn't take your Christian shit when I was here the first time, and I won't take it now," he said. "So don't even try to convert me. If you do it again, I'll… I'll…" he stuttered. What would he do? As a youngster he had threatened to hex them, although they hadn't pressed him about religion often. He cared about them, now, and he knew that a threat of that sort with his past records was something that would make them nervous around him.

"Then I'll kill myself," he said, narrowing his eyes. He knew the threat was outrageous and a complete overreaction. He knew he was overreacting to everything, but he felt hypersensitive, and now that he had thrown himself into it, there was no way to back out. At least not gracefully.

"Severus!" Molly said, her russet eyebrows lifting high in surprise.

"Oh, just stop," he said, slumping back into his chair. He hadn't realized he'd stood up. "You know I'm not going to do that,"

"Yes, well," Arthur shook his head. "We won't talk about this anymore, then. I'll help you take your trunk to your room,"

"I'll do it myself," Severus said, grabbing his trunk and heading up the stairs. Upon reaching the upper hallway, he found himself suddenly flanked on either side by identical faces framed by curly mops of red hair.

"So, Snape," the one on his left, Fred, said.

"What do you want?" Severus snapped.

"Woah, hostile," George said.

"That's right, I'm a hostile, sarcastic, greasy-haired, hook-nosed, poison-tongued bastard," Severus said, stopping and staring at them. They looked surprised. "So why don't you just stay out of my way and don't bother me. Don't bother me, don't talk to me, don't look at me, and don't think about me. Then, maybe this situation could be tolerable for everyone,"

They frowned. "If you think we're just not going to talk to you the whole time we're gracious enough to let you stay in our house, in our brother's room, you've got another thing coming! You have to entertain us whenever we want, without that snarky attitude, thank you very much," Fred said.

"Oh, you think so, do you?" Severus said, grinning maliciously. "How shall I entertain you? I hear bloodletting's all the rage these days," he sneered.

"Erm, well, no thanks," Fred said whitely.

"Yeah. Never mind us, we'll just be on our way,"

They, like the other students at Hogwarts, had seen the way Severus had injured a few of the students. They weren't eager to be on the list of Snape attacks.

That night at dinner, Severus sat grimly in his chair, his chin in his palm, staring blankly into space while the Weasley's ate, every now and again shooting guarded glances at him.

"So, Severus," Molly said. He snapped to attention. "What do you think of the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" she was fishing for something to make him interact. She had done it many a time before, but she knew she was a bit rusty. She'd have to learn how to talk with the boy again.

"I feel bad for all of the people that are going to die in it," he said. She looked at him.

"The Deatheaters?" she said.

"Well, yes, them too." He told her.

"But they're evil!" Ron said.

"They deserve to die!" Fred followed.

Severus blinked at them. "Well, they may have committed some atrocious acts," he said. "But it's not really that it's their bidding that's done it. The Dark Lord has utmost control over them."

"Everyone has free will!" George said. "They have perfectly enough free will to defect,"

"But they don't, that's just it." Severus said. "To quote, 'Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country,' Or in this case, any organization. The Dark Lord has brainwashed his followers into believing that Muggles and Mudbloods are the source of all problems and well cause the eventual destruction of the entire wizarding world. He's the Modern-Day Hitler,"

"Who were you quoting just then?" Arthur asked.

"Hermann Goering, a major Nazi leader. He said it in an interview with Gustave Gilbert during a recess of the Nuremberg trials." Severus told them.

"So it was Nazi filth that said it, you're going to use that to get sympathy for deatheaters?" George said.

"It doesn't matter that he was a nazi, because he was absolutely true," Severus told them. "Either way, I'm not recruiting sympathy for them. But I feel bad that they're going to die before they have a chance to realize that they're wrong. It's no success to simply rid the world of them. The true success would be to make them see that they'd erred." Severus shrugged. "But everyone's entitled to their own opinion, I suppose."

There was an awkward silence, before he abruptly stood and walked out of the room.

"This is going to be too weird," Fred said softly.

"I don't like him staying with us," George said to his parents.

"He threatened us in the hallway," Fred added.

"Please," Molly said. "Just give him awhile. He needs to adjust. Once you get to know him a little, you'll see that he's just very troubled. He's had a much rougher life than you can even imagine. He's very sensitive and he guards himself from the world. Right now he's confused and scared, and he's a bit overly sensitive, even for himself. Just give him some space,"

Ginny, who'd been quiet for most of the dinner, looked up suddenly. "How'd he get that scar?" she asked quietly.

Arthur looked at her for a moment. "He was cut with a broken bottle," he said. "He was very near to losing the eye, but he managed to keep the glass far enough away that it only cut his face."

"A broken bottle?" Ron said. "Did he get in a fight with someone?"

"Not really," Molly said, clearing her throat. She looked at the curious, prying eyes of her children. She finally sighed. "His father was an alcoholic," she said softly.

"Oh," Ginny said, blinking. She frowned. "His dad did that to him?"

"His father did much worse than that to him," Arthur said. "Usually followed by a bit of rough handling from his mother. Because he angered his father, he told us. Although he usually spoke with a sort of desperate affection for his mother, whom he at least had fond memories of."

"But why did his father put glass in his eye?" Ginny asked.

"The most we could ever get from Severus was that his father had little patience for 'his sort'." Molly said. The children stared.

Ginny stood up and left, then, and it seemed like a chain reaction that everyone else then also stood and left.

****

Severus sat in the dark family room. There was no one else in it, and he had taken the liberties to kill the lights so as to have near-total darkness. The drapes closed, with only a hint of light creeping from beneath it, and the kitchen lights off as well, the room was a quite comforting shade of gray. The loud ache in his head was very persistent.

He heard the footsteps long before they arrived. A herd of people heading towards his choice spot of meditation. He heard sneakers shriek softly on the linoleum of the kitchen floor, before the feet padded into the room. He could see the dark shapes move to the switch on the wall.

As the lights sprang to life, he lost the vision he'd previously had.

"Ah!" he heard a male voice yelp. He blinked the spots away as his pupils contracted and he adjusted to the light.

"What are you doing?" Fred's distinct voice said.

"I'm sitting." Severus said, his vision mostly restored. Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny were standing in the doorway. Ginny had what appeared to be a board game under one arm.

"In the dark?" George said. He was clutching his shirt with one hand, looking startled. Severus guessed it had been he who'd yelped.

"Sitting in the dark," Severus said.

"Why?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Because I have a migraine and the light was paining me." He said. "I wouldn't mind if you talked a bit softer,"

"I didn't know you get migraines." Fred said.

"Why would you?"

"Um… well, I guess you've got me there,"

Severus stood up. The motion was almost too much for him, a nauseating wave of dizziness overcame him. He grabbed the arm of the chair to steady himself. His vision clouded over.

"Woah," his voice seemed far away as the throbbing in his head intensified. "That's never happened before," he heard himself say.

"What hasn't?" Ginny's voice trickled through the ache in his head.

"I can't see," he choked out. He was dimly aware of his hands clutching at his head. He was doubling over.

"Holy crap," George said. "Mum! Dad!" he heard the other boy roar. He moaned in pain. The carpet pressed into his forehead, although he hadn't been aware that his head had touched the floor. He felt the ground vibrating gently as Molly and Arthur appeared, having heard the panic in their son's voice.

"Severus!" they cried in unison.

"…don't…" was all he could manage.

Suddenly, there was a blinding white flash over his eyes, and he was aware of nothing more.

Arthur saw the boy's face relax, his arms dropping, and he stepped over to pick the unconscious boy up. However, suddenly and surprisingly, the limp form of the boy rose nearly six feet in the air.

"Holy crap!" George repeated.

Severus's legs and arms dangled lifelessly in the air, before his body rotated so he was levitating on his back. His head dropped back, his eyes still closed, his mouth open just a hair. His mop of black hair was hanging down, giving them a perfect view of his face, as his head was towards them. His body slowly evened out, so his spine was straight, though his limbs and head still dangled, pulled down by gravity, though his torso was not. There was a flash of light, and a neon blue orb surrounded the floating boy, masking him from sight, completely encompassing him. It snapped and flickered as though electricity.

"What in the hell..?" Arthur murmured, his eyes wide.

"What's wrong with him?" Ginny cried, looking bewildered. Nobody answered.

There was a loud crack and the blue orb vanished. They could see Severus again, now, surrounded by a shifting black orb. The black orb was not solid; in fact it seemed to fade clear on the front so that they could see Severus.

He seemed to be devoid of all clothing, now, save for a long white sheet curling around his body almost like a toga, covering his personal areas and yet never actually touching his flesh. His left arm extended forward, the hand hanging limply, the dark mark gleaming angrily against his pale skin. His eyes were still closed.

Suddenly, a green lettering appeared on the face of the orb, but it was written in a foreign script that none of them could decipher.

"Holy cow," Ron said. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a small video camera his father had been tinkering with. He managed to turn it on (though how, he didn't know) and was slightly relieved when he heard a small whirring of the tape recording. He pointed it at the orb, hoping to capture the message, so they might decipher it if they needed to. (He had a feeling they would need to.)

The foreign script stopped, and below it, in glowing white, it began to write in English.

"I fear it's a long way down, and I fear I won't be around, and why don't you believe me when I'm screaming? Keep me locked up and you will end up burned by love or sickness. You cause a stir in my sad, sad and lonely heart." Arthur read. There was a smear of words as they all ran together and dissipated. Then, in strong bold letters, more words appeared.

"This spirit contained and preserved within must be set free so it may complete its requirements. The vessel was given thirty-five years to locate the necessary partner vessel and has failed to do so. As such, both vessels have been altered so to complete the task. Suggesting immediate action towards locating the partner, or the continued existence of this fair and delicate world is questionable. Once the vessels are united in body and soul, in flesh and spirit both, only then may the ancient songs ring again to complete the universal harmony." It said. This was quickly erased again, and more was written, in a yellow, looping text.

"Bodily impurity has caused a great deal of trauma and all in all has been a key factor in the failing of the vessel. This is the first vessel in all of time that has failed the task, and the universal mind has attributed the failure to one key impurity that caused a wrinkle in the plan for the vessel. All bodily defections will be alleviated."

The black orb flashed to a brilliant red color, and the scars on Severus' body glowed blood red. In addition, so glowed the dark mark. There was a lurch of his body, and his face took on an expression of intense pain, his chest heaving with breath. Then, it seemed as though all of the scars and marks were melting. The red color ran down his arms and legs to drip into a pool at the bottom of the orb. Where they had been, where the mark had been, was now gleaming pale, fresh skin.

The Weasley family were watching in a sort of morbid fascination. Severus's face had relaxed, and a single line of text appeared.

"Open your eyes,"

Severus's eyes sprang open, and for a moment they looked like the eyes of a dead person, blank and unseeing, before the orb flashed the electric blue for one moment, then vanished. There was a thump as the dark-haired boy crumpled to the floor, fully clothed.

The Weasley's stood for a moment in shock, staring at the still body of Severus on the floor. They seemed to be frozen, unsure of what to do, of what had just happened. Only when Severus shifted slightly, letting out a small groan, did Molly rush forward. She scooped the boy up into her arms as though he were weightless and lifted him away to his bedroom.

****

A/N: Sorry it took awhile to update again, I know for awhile there I was just churning them out out outtttt, but I was on a nine-day environmental conservation learning-type trip to Belize, so I had no access to the computer. However, I was plotting this chapter and those far ahead of it during my free time, so I began as soon as I got home yesterday J. Thank you all for REVIEWING! (hint hint)