A/N: Well, poor Harry… I guess…
I just had a horrible day. Got an A in English, not that that would matter, it's just boring. And then I stormed out of our mediators' meeting. We are trying to solve problems pupils in our school have with each other but how are we supposed to do so if we are arguing all the time? Guess I would have explained my outburst like that if I wouldn't have been on the verge of tears.
Remember the poll. It'll stay up until Friday! I have 8 votes so far... 2 for "The Serpents Child" and 6 for "Calling of the Shadows". This makes me wonder... as far as I can judge, "Calling of the Shadows" has the worst excerpt... save "Taching DADA" which has none...
Chapter 09 – Everything goes wrong
Harry Potter returned to the Common Room. He was panting, wet all over and had a haunted look.
"Hey mate!" called Ron and waved at Harry. For the lack of any better idea, Harry walked over to his two best friends sitting on a couch in a corner of the room.
"You missed Herbology!" admonished Hermione. "And Potions!"
"Good thing that Snape missed it as well!" added Ron.
Harry lowered his head and his hair hang in wild strands in his face. "I know…"
"Harry, you look horrible!" sighed Hermione and cast a drying spell. "Go and lay down before dinner!"
Harry shook his head. "No, I don't think it will be necessary!"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Ron. "You look a bloody mess, mate! Go and rest a bit!"
xox
When Harry woke he had missed dinner.
He was alone in the dormitory and had a quick glance at himself in the mirror to make sure that he didn't look like Snape and walked down the stairs to the Common Room.
Hermione and Ron occupied the same couch they had occupied in the afternoon and were arguing about something. Or were they agreeing on something? It was hard to tell with the two of them.
"Hey Harry!" called Ron and waved at him.
"Hey mate," replied Harry tiredly. He sat down next to Hermione and sighed.
"Had a nice nap?"
Harry nodded.
"Feel better?"
"A bit!"
"Perhaps you should see Madam Pomfrey?"
"Definitely not!" exclaimed Harry and stared at his boots.
"We have been thinking…" started Ron.
"Really?" teased Harry half-heartedly. "Must have been a shock for you…"
"We have been thinking about the prophecy. And how well it fits you!"
"It does not," sighed the black-haired teen. "It merely is a bad poem, a very bad poem, if you ask me!"
"They said that the prophecy was made before?" asked Hermione. "Taranee… Taranee LaPlace, I guess it was!"
"I don't know… don't remember… But it does not fit me or my current situation. That's your imagination, you know!"
"When the times are going to turn," said Ron.
"You have to admit that something is changing with Snape!" said Hermione.
"When the nameless evil is on its peak," quipped the red-head.
"Voldemort gained power in the last months."
"Nonsense!" threw Harry in.
"And when the boy will be a man," Ron sighed. "Come on, even you have to admit that you don't look like the sickly small boy you where anymore. Okay, you look sickly but not like a small boy anymore!"
Harry lowered his head even more. Hermione laid her arms around the boy and pulled him close. Harry tried to fight the hug, but somehow his body decided that he needed the contact. He groaned quietly and buried his face at Hermione's shoulder.
He would not cry, he would not cry!
Ron softly padded his back and mumbled nonsense.
"Haven't you got it by now? The Prophecy isn't about me!" he crocked, only to keep himself from crying.
"It is! It is about Harry Potter, it is about the Harry Potter you are now!"
"You were only part seer when you made this prophecy and this made it possible for you to remember it! It doesn't take a genius to find out that you are not born as Harry Potter! Perhaps the seer-trait was suppressed and a part of you remembered it as if it had been a dream! I've read about adopted wizards who…"
Harry lifted himself up and scowled at Hermione. "You hated Divination. And still you know all the facts. What an utter waste of time and brain cells!"
Ron smacked Harry over the head. "Hey! You may be right but you don't tell her!"
"Well, have you finally found out that you have a crush on her?" sneered Harry. "About bloody time! Isn't it rich, the two of you spend most of your time together and still haven't figured out that you should rather go and shag, instead of annoying the hell out of everyone in the room with your constant bickering!"
Hermione bit her lower lip and Ron glared at Harry.
"I never thought that anybody could annoy me more than Draco Malfoy does, but you are damn close, Harry Potter!"
The black-haired teen deliberated for a moment before he lifted his head.
"Fuck you, Ron Weasley!" he spit out and ran for his life.
xox
It really wasn't Harry Potter's lucky day, you could guess. And it doesn't take a Hermione to guess whom, according to Murphy's law, he would meet roaming the school.
Actually the school was big enough that you could avoid meeting anybody at night, if you knew some of the secret passageways.
Alas, Harry had no such luck that night.
And even if someone could argue that Harry's sub consciousness had chosen this path because he wanted to be found – and perhaps even wanted to be found by that particular person – Harry would disagree with fiery passion.
To be straightforward, Harry Potter literally bounced into Severus Snape, who was patrolling the hallways on the sixth floor.
It was a dark hallway with a dusty red carpet and he didn't hear the approaching teacher's steps, as well as Snape didn't hear the student's steps.
Harry was thrown back and barely remained on his feet and Snape needed a moment to straighten himself again.
"Out of bed after curfew and not paying attention. Fifty points from…"
Snape looked up and met his son's defiant gaze.
"Say it already… Fifty points from Gryffindor!"
Snape frowned. "What are you doing out here after curfew?"
"Walking, and yourself?" groaned Harry. "Take the points and send me back to my dormitory so we can get over this!"
"I have a better idea!" sneered Snape.
"What? Some fluffy father-son activity? Going to the zoo, or to the cinema? Going to read me a bedtime story?" growled the teen.
"Actually I wanted to talk to you! But only if you feel capable of speech, of course!"
A low growl escaped Harry's throat. "Then we speak. Start."
"Follow me!"
They began to long track towards the dungeons and Harry thought about escaping to the Gryffindor Common Room but a quick glance at his watch showed him that it was not even ten o'clock. He would most certainly meet Hermione and Ron and he felt that he couldn't face them for quite some time.
"Sit!" ordered Snape when they arrived at his office. "Tea?"
"No, thank you," he pressed out and added below his breath, "I'd rather die of thirst!"
Snape placed a cup of tea in front of Harry and leaned back in his chair.
"So… I've been thinking…"
"I've heard this sentence before and I don't even want to know which conclusions you drew, sir!"
"Angry with your friends then, I suppose? Well, I have been thinking about the prophecy and what it means."
"That's it, I'll go! There is not one damned sentence in that prophecy that is fitting me!"
Snape cocked one eyebrow and then glared at the rising Harry.
"SIT DOWN!" he bellowed angrily. "And drink your tea!"
Harry looked defiant but did what he was ordered to. Perhaps this would end sooner if he obeyed Snape.
"So, I think that the prophecy is fitting you!"
"How can you be sure that I didn't make it up? Perhaps I heard of the prophecy and then decided to be a little miracle boy once again?" sneered Harry. "Perhaps it was made up in the first place. You never know…"
Snape leaned forward and pressed his fingertips together. "I know it wasn't made up and I know that you didn't make it up. As I said, there is a certain other prediction referring to the lost son and it refers to you. I do not have a doubt about it!"
"To hell with all those predictions and prophecies and whatsoever!"
"Harry!" hissed the Potions master and the boy wondered how anybody could hiss a word without any S in it, but the teacher made a fair good job at it. "I know it's true because you have the Gift. You inherited it from your grandmother, Taranee Snape!"
Meris - Thank you! I fear I'm going to blush!
Tabitha78 - I guess the elderly woman is just an elderly woman... you happen to find elderly women on graveyards you know? And who said that Snape and Harry would get along? And the thought of another Harry Potter gives me headaches.
moonypadfoot - Happy you liked it. I did as well.
jwulee - Here you are! Have fun!
What's on the next chapter: Dunno. Have to think about that today!