Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone: Take Two

by MysticSong1978

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot switch and any original characters I may add in as I deem necessary. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling. Should any other literary references be used, they will be so noted at that point.

Dialogue is in double quotes ("") and Thoughts are in single quotes ('').


Severus whipped his head around when he heard the voice of Lucius Malfoy. 'Bloody hell!' he thought, though his face remained impassive. Severus saw no good way out of this situation and opted for the truth. Any other answer would just bring suspicion; something Snape didn't need. "Lucius," Snape said with a smirk, "have you met . . . Mr. Potter?" Only a slight lift to Lucius' brow was indicative of his surprise.

A silence fell over the rowdy crowd. Lucius raised an eyebrow at Severus and then leaned over to Harry, roughly pushing Harry's fringe out of the way to expose his scar. "So it is, Severus, so it is." He leaned closer and whispered in the Potions Master's ear. "You work in mysterious ways, Severus, but gain his trust and our Lord will be pleased." Only Severus's long practice of schooling his body not to react to unexpected information kept him still at the elder Malfoy's suggestion that the Dark Lord had returned. Lucius gave Harry another appraising look and swept out of the tavern.

With Malfoy gone, people jumped up from all corners of the room, pushing forward to shake Harry's hand. Harry was flustered and felt himself blush. Prior to today, Snape would have assumed he was cheered by his fame, arrogant like James. But now he knew better. Harry had been abused and when you've gone through that you perceive attention as bad until you can get to know someone well enough to determine if they are trustworthy. The less you're seen, the less you're hit. Or verbally abused. Or a combination thereof. Severus was positive that Harry had learned the art of being invisible without any magic at all.

As he backed Harry away from the fervent crowd, a small, nervous man with a turban on his head smiled gingerly at them, but made no move to come closer. Snape caught his eye, and introduced him. "Harry, this is Professor Quirrell. He'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Harry wondered about the slight snarl in Professor Snape's voice but smiled pleasantly at the new face, trusting that as a professor, Quirrell was someone safe.

"Nice to meet you," said Harry, holding out a hand for him to shake. But Quirrell just looked at him and started to back away. A tipsy witch heading to the bar bumped him though and pushed him close, almost to touching, to Harry for a moment. Harry winced in pain, feeling a deep ache in his scar, but Snape, who wasn't as close, didn't realize it for what it was, and assumed it was the closeness of the crowds in general that had bothered Harry.

Harry, not having experienced pain like this before, at least, not that he could remember, didn't know how to explain it. He'd experienced static shock before, especially with older carpeting, dry weather . . he'd shocked himself. He'd seen his cousin and Uncle experience it too, so he knew it wasn't a magic thing. So rather than asking, Harry assumed that this must be some magical version of it, given that they'd been bumped together for a moment.

He let Harry collect himself, and then indicated that he should head over to a corner booth, which offered some semblance of privacy for their discussion. Once they were seated, Severus erected privacy wards which would keep people from overhearing them, but would still allow waitstaff to service their table. Once drinks were served, two fragrant cups of Earl Grey, Harry gamely drank down the nutrient potion offered. The menu options were . . . limited. Leaky Soup. House Soup. Pea Soup (Severus strongly recommended against that one). Steak and Kidney Pie. The soups didn't offer up any sort of description. Harry went with the pie, as did Severus. Although the potion worked much faster than any muggle medicine every could, Harry would still be on it for awhile before his system could fully recover. Thus, he barely managed more than a quarter of the pie. Snape pondered the situation for a moment, and then cast a stasis charm on the rest of Harry's meal.

"That will keep it from spoiling. We'll get a box so you can take it to go and eat it later without your . . . family being any the wiser. Now," Severus said, pushing their cups and plates to the inside end of their table, "hand me your trunk."

Harry did so, and Severus quickly enlarged it. He undid the lock, and pulled it open so Harry could get a good look inside.

"Wow! I wasn't expecting it to have so much room on the inside. It doesn't look that big. Magic is ... wow!"

Severus allowed what might have been a brief smile to grace his lips before telling Harry to put the rest of his acquisitions on the table next to the trunk. One by one, Severus enlarged each of the items, and had Harry pack them into the trunk. Robes on top so that they would be easy to access on the train.

A waitress came and left, returning with a box for Harry's leftovers, and a bill for each of each of them. Severus helped Harry pick out the right coins, plus a tip, that could be left on the table. A special charm set to all of the tavern's tables would keep anyone but the waitress assigned to their section from taking the coins.

Harry boxed up his lunch, and Severus cast two more charms on it - one to keep the box from leaking, another to keep and smells from wafting out of it, knowing all to well that if Harry's family even suspected that Harry had food with him, not only would they not feed him at home, but wouldn't let him have any more of the steak and kidney pie.

The box of leftovers were carefully secured in the trunk, and Harry closed it. Then, with Severus's help, set the magical locking charm that would keep the trunk from opening for anyone but Harry. Severus assured him that although students were not permitted to do magic outside of Hogwarts, certain spells, like the protection one on his trunk, would not alert the Ministry of Magic.

And then, with nothing else left to buy, it was time for Harry to return home.


Updated January 5, 2017

Reminder: Short chapters, like this one, have been expanded as much as possible during revisions.

I cannot combine them with other, longer chapters, or I will lose all of their reviews.