Walking in His Shoes
Chapter 3

By Corgi

Severus cursed Albus and cursed Potter as we made his way towards Gryffindor tower. Only Albus would be so cruel to put him into an adolescent body and expect him to experience the awkwardness that accompanies it again. Wasn't once enough?

Severus predicted that it would be less than forty eight hours before someone noticed the difference in the two of them. There was no way they were going to pull this off. Merlin, help them all if the Dark Lord called. The boy will definitely mess things up there; his Occlumency skills are still non-existent. He'll never be able to hide anything from the Dark Lord. Hopefully Albus will have a solution for that. What surprised Severus more was that the boy had more respect for him than he thought. He just kept it well hidden from everyone. Severus didn't understand why until Harry mentioned that he didn't like the publicity, the attention and notoriety that being The-Boy-Who-Lived has given him. Severus began to expect he was the one who would gum up the works when it came to this little exercise of Albus'.

Severus didn't understand the brat at all. He has all this power and potential, but he doesn't use it. Severus could feel the magical power surging through Harry's body and just didn't believe the boy hid it like this. The boy could be phenomenal if he applied himself, unless he felt it was another way of making him different; to stand out. That would make sense from what he gathered from the boy when they had their 'getting to know you' chat. Another odd thing to Severus was the boy never mentioned the Muggles he lived with. No matter how many questions Severus asked Harry avoided them and changed the topic as quickly as possible. Severus just hoped that the boy didn't leave out any information that would trip him up with Granger and Weasley.

Severus paused a bit when he encountered a twinge in his/Harry's back. It was something Severus was familiar with, though he couldn't place it at that moment. Continuing his weary way to the tower when another stray thought entered his fogged mind, what were they to do about their owls? There's no way to fool them; both birds were much brighter than the normal familiar. That'll be another worry for Albus to deal with tomorrow. Hopefully the birds would sort it out on their own and not make too much of a scene. Finally the torturous climb was over and the portrait guarding the entrance way to Gryffindor tower.

"Password?" The Fat Lady requested as he approached her.

"Hungarian Horntail." Severus quickly ducked through the circular hole and entered the common room. Thankfully there weren't a lot of people for Severus to interact with. He saw Miss Granger heading his way.

"Hi Harry! Where were you today?" Granger asked and Severus had to make a mental not to call her by her first name.

"Professor Dumbledore wanted to talk about the upcoming Defence conference." Severus hoped he sounded like Harry, but looking at the boy's friend it didn't look like he succeeded.

"That took all day?" Her eyes widened with disbelief and started examining him; looking for something she only knew.

"Yes, he not only wanted to go over my speech, but also security arrangements. We still haven't ironed out those yet." Severus prayed she'd stop prying, this was yet another thing for him to ask tomorrow; was she always this nosy? "Look Hermione, I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night and I need to sleep."

"Was it You-Know-Who, again?" She asked concern coloring her voice.

"No, it wasn't the Dark Lord. I've just had a lot on my mind. Good night, Hermione." With that farewell he headed up to Harry's, no his, dorm for some badly needed sleep. He didn't notice Hermione staring at his retreating back eyes narrowed and a calculating look in her eye.

Severus found his new bed quite easily since it was the only one not occupied at the moment. He quickly stripped of the school robes and threw them in the hamper. He looked down and wondered why Harry had such horrible clothes. Was it a muggle fashion statement? The foul things were dingy, worn to a thread and twelve sizes to big. The boy was as thin now as Severus was as a first year. He rummaged in the trunk for a pair of pajamas and noticed they were a horrible striped pair and these too were worn and much too large. Shaking his head in disbelief, he changed into the obnoxious things and took few moments to paw through the rest of the items in the trunk and noticed a letter in a Muggle envelope at the top. He made yet another mental note to read the thing before getting ready in the morning. He had to make sure it wasn't something that would trip him up in his charade. He flopped into the bed and fell asleep faster than he thought possible, but considering the fact that he didn't sleep before the switch, and most likely Potter didn't either, he shouldn't have been surprised.

A burning pain on his forehead and a ghostly one on his left arm caused Severus to try and struggle out of sleep, but what ever was occurring wouldn't let him.

He saw himself in a shabby room that may have once be beautiful, but now was layered in grim, dried blood and other bodily fluids. He looked around the room and noticed several people kneeling on the ground before him. As he looked around he saw his reflection in a mirror across the room. His gleaming red eyes narrowed in anger as he listened to one of the cowering figures try and explain away his failure. Suddenly Severus knew he was looking through the Dark Lord's eyes.

"Enough of your excuses, you pathetic fool! You have failed me one time too many Lucius. This time there will be no more chances to redeem yourself. 'Crucio!'. Pain lanced through the victim and the mask fell away to show Lucius' face contorted in agony.

Several minutes past, and the curse wasn't lifted. Lucius' screams started to die off as his vocal cords gave out and he started to turn blue from lack of oxygen. Ten minutes later the man's body went limp, blood oozing out of his ears, nose and mouth. A gesture of his hand sent one of the others scurrying to the body to try and revive it. When the spell failed the black-robed figure checked the neck for a pulse and shook his head in the negative when he didn't find one.

"Let that be a lesson to you all! I will not tolerate failure!" Red eyes glared at each person in turn before speaking again. "Severus!" Fear raced through Severus when he realized that Harry was there in his body. "Have you retrieved what I asked you for?"

"No, my lord." Was the reply Severus heard from his own lips. He had forgotten to tell Harry what the Dark Lord assigned him.

"You have failed? What is your excuse?"

"I have none, my Lord."

Red eyes narrowed as the body Severus watched from stalked around the kneeling form. Severus noticed that his body was shaking in the after affects of Cruciatus. He wondered if the body he was occupying was suffering it too. It was an interesting side effect of the potion.

"You've failed to retrieve a personal item of Potter's. You should be punished, but… Tell me Severus, why are you suffering the after affects of the Cruciatus curse?" Curiosity laced the hissing voice.

"Aurors, my Lord." A quick gesture from the snake like man encouraged him to elaborate. "Six of them came to the school and sought Dumbledore's permission to ask me some questions. They stunned me as I came out of my office to retrieve the item you requested. I had planned to get the item from Potter's dorm room, while he was at a meeting with the headmaster when they waylaid me. They blindfolded me and began interrogating me about you, my Lord, and what your plans were. They resorted to torture to attempt to force the information from me. They gave up shortly before you summoned me, my Lord."

"I see… You will be forgiven this time." Anger laced the voice of the Dark Lord. "You will still retrieve what I asked you for. Do you know who the Aurors were?"

"No, my Lord, I did not see their faces, but I would recognize their voices if I heard them again. May I have my Lord's permission to dispose of them when I cross paths with them again?"

"Yesss, use them to test those new poisons and pain potions I ordered you to develop."

"Thank you, my Lord. You are most generous!" Severus had no choice but to commend the boy for his quick thinking as much as he loathed admitting it.

The Dark Lord returned his attention to the rest of the people in the room allowing some relief to 'Severus'. Orders flew about the room and Severus took note of what the orders were and who they were given to.

"You are all dismissed." Cracks of displace air filled the room as everyone disapparated from the room.

Severus awoke shock evident if anyone was awake to notice his expression. Severus slid quickly out of bed and rummaged in the trunk for Potter's cloak. Encasing himself into its folds he silently left the dorm room and headed for the Entrance Hall. Just as he arrived Harry stumbled into the school shaking slightly. Severus could tell he was trying hard to control himself and act the way Severus would in that situation. Harry made his way up the stairs towards the Headmaster's office. Severus followed under the invisibility cloak. Harry murmured the password to the Headmaster's office and entered when he heard the Headmaster's 'come in'. Severus was surprised when Harry held the door open and mumbled hurry up. Once inside Harry closed the door and Severus removed the cloak. Both sat in the chairs the Headmaster offered and quickly gave the man a rundown of the night's events.

"It's quite interesting that you both experience what normally only Harry would feel during one of Voldemort's meetings. I'll take a look into the matter in the morning. You've both done very well. I don't for how long Harry will be able to fool Voldemort into think he's you, but he'll have to continue until a solution is found and put into place."

"As loathed as I am to admit it, Potter, you did very well tonight. I wasn't expecting him to call tonight."

"Thank you, Professor. I never could imagine before how you manage to lie to him on a regular basis. Just being there and knowing one slip will get me killed is too much for me. Hell, just watching through Voldemort's eyes is too much for me most times."

"Indeed," was the only reply Severus could give, but inside he was very shocked at what the boy confessed. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Albus and noticed that damned twinkle was going full force.

"Now, Professor, I don't want to hear you complain about me being out of my dorm after curfew ever again." The joking tone in his voice surprised Severus. It was a very long time since he had heard himself laugh. He did thought, want to smack the smirk Potter aimed at him right off his face.

Albus just chuckled and sent them off to bed wishing them pleasant dreams. Severus left for Gryffindor tower and tried to go back to sleep once there. He managed some sleep but it was fitful at best. Morning arrived way too soon. Despite being in a different body Severus still stuck to his habitual wake up time. He took the opportunity to look through Harry's belongings after setting out clothes for today. His gaze fell on the letter he noticed last night. He took it out and began to read the contents. He was in shock by the time he finished it. He grabbed the clothes and headed for the bathroom to shower. Once there he spelled the doors locked with the strongest charm he knew. He stripped off the clothes he was wearing and examine the body he inhabited. He was surprised that he didn't see what he expected. He looked at the form in the mirror, his brows furrowed in thought as he pondered any alternate meaning to Harry's letter. Finding none he decided to cast a Finite Incantatem at himself. When the spell's effects took hold all he could do was look in horror.

Harry's body was as liberally laced in scars as his own. The only places not touched by scars where the boy's hands and face, with exception of the bolt on his forehead. Severus was definitely going to confront the boy once he was back in his body. This cannot go on or the boy could be dead before the Dark Lord had a chance to try. Once that was done Severus was going to have it out with the Headmaster. He recast the glamour the boy used and quickly showered and changed. He sat in the common room until Weasley and Granger arrived to go to breakfast.

Much too soon for Severus' taste both people in question showed up and they headed to the Great Hall. All through their walk Severus could feel Granger's eyes on him. She scrutinized every move, word and gesture all through the trip. Even during breakfast she watched him. He tried very hard not to squirm and his muttered 'what' to the girl replied with a 'nothing'. It was hard to eat with her staring at him like he was a frog in a dissecting tray.

As they were eating the mail arrived and sure enough both his owl and Harry's were in among the owls swooping in. Both his black eagle owl and Harry's snowy circled in confusion for a moment before going to the appropriate people. The snowy landed in front of him and held out her leg. As he was trying to remove the note tied there she kept nipping him quite hard and glared at him. He placed the note in his pocket and felt the stare Granger was giving him increase in intensity. He couldn't figure out why she was staring so much.

He glanced at the head table after thanking the owl and giving her some sausage. Harry didn't seem to be having trouble with his bird. Then it hit him. Harry was treating his bird the same way he normally treated his own owl and Minerva was staring at him in shock as the boy slipped what ever note he received in one of the many pockets in his robes.

Breakfast was finally over and he had the day to himself. Once outside the Great Hall he tried to brush off Granger and Weasley, but they wouldn't let him go. He tried arguing with them and failing until he ran into something solid in his path.

"Watch were you're going, Potter. Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention starting immediately. Follow me." Severus heard Potter hiss at him.

Severus followed Potter to his office where the entered quickly and both threw silencing and locking charms up the moment the door closed. Both looked at each other for several long moments before Potter spoke up.

"I think we both blew it," was his nervous declaration.

"Yes, you're behavior concerning my owl has told Professor McGonagall that something is wrong." Severus couldn't help snarling at Potter.

"I noticed her looking at me strangely. I also saw Hermione practically dissecting you during breakfast. What did you do or say to make her suspicious?"

"She started looking oddly at me the first time I spoke. When I tried to go to bed saying I didn't sleep we'll she asked if my lack of sleep was You-Know-Who. I told her no it wasn't the Dark Lord."

"You referred to Voldemort as the Dark Lord in Hermione's presence? Damn! That's why she's glaring. Damn! What are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Potter, let's go see the Headmaster." Severus couldn't help asking himself what else could go wrong.

~tbc~