Plotting By Grand Design A Current Relationship
Chapter Two- Of Faults and Foundations
When a man adheres to a design, either the design or the man will be changed- Buckminster Fuller
The schedule varied. Sometimes they would eat in Snape's office together or separately in the Great Hall. Sometimes Snape dismissed Harry early or quite late. Usually there was a lesson of some sort. From time to time, they prepared potions together. At other times, they only read. When they talked, they discussed a great many subjects, usually related to Harry's studies. Infrequently, they talked about other things, like literature and philosophy, that while scholarly in nature, seemed to Harry to have no direct connection to his N.E.W.T.s.
Much later than he was expecting, Snape was summoned to Dumbledore's office.
"Take a seat, Severus. You are looking well! Tea? A Lifesaver, perhaps?"
Snape looked down disdainfully at a dish of rather garish, sticky-looking Muggle candies.
"No. Thank you."
"May I say how pleased I am that you have taken Harry under your tutelage. All of his classes, but most especially Potions and the History of Magic, have shown a marked improvement!"
"Yes."
"Is there anything you would like to tell me, Severus?"
"One of my first year Slytherins, a Miss Fairweather, doesn't appear to be a complete dunderhead when it comes to beginning brewing techniques."
"I'm well aware of Miss Fairweather's promising potion-making skills. I meant about Harry."
"No revelations leap to mind. Perhaps you might consider formulating particular questions in your intrepid search for answers?"
"As you know, teacher-student romances while uncommon, are not entirely discouraged- not in every case, at least."
"Was that meant to be a question, Albus? I'll spare you rephrasing it as such. Potter is my student. I am his teacher. That is the nature of our relationship. I will say the same under Veritaserum."
"Of course you would, Severus! What's more, we both know that what you would say under Veritaserum in this case, would be true! I only bring it up because I approve of what you have done for young Harry. He- was- so very lost- only weeks ago."
"Perhaps there is something else you wish to discuss?"
"There are many things I'd love to discuss with you, Severus. Unfortunately, some of those events haven't happened yet; and some of those conversations have already taken place, in which case, I'd be repeating myself. For now, I'll let you get back to your beloved dungeons. Well done, Severus! Well done in deed!"
"Ever interesting, Headmaster."
As the weeks passed, the school noticed a great change in the both of them. Harry, when his friends did get to see him, seemed more relaxed and happy than they ever remembered him being. Had Harry's other professors not known of Snape's tutoring sessions, they would have thought Harry was a Polyjuiced impostor. Likewise, seventh years hardly recognized Snape in N.E.W.T. Level Potions. "He was nearly -bearable- today!" a surprised Hermione remarked one day after class, when they were well away from the dungeons.
It was another Friday, with only a month before N.E., that Harry reported to Snape's office as usual to find Snape in a mood that Harry did not, at first, recognise.
"I just graded the written part of the N.E.W.T. Level Potions exam from yesterday. You received top marks tying with Miss Granger. You beat Mr. Malfoy by a single point. I am very proud to be your teacher, Mr. Potter."
Harry collapsed to his knees.
"Mr. Potter-"
All the stress, deaths, threats, the war, the loneliness- none of it had caused the dam to break. What Snape had said meant to him so much more than he could seem to bear hearing.
"Mr. Potter-"
Snape offered him a handkerchief and a hand up from off the floor. Harry took both.
"Sorry, sir."
"No need."
"Thank you, Professor. For everything."
"Perhaps you should take the day off, Potter," Snape said, prying his hand back.
"I'd rather stay here with you, sir. That is, if you don't mind. I could read quietly?"
"Very well."
Snape read a study on the magical properties of certain species of recently discovered Brazilian rainforest insects, wondering whether they would all be extinct before he could get his hands on a sufficient quantity for the purposes of experimental potions-making. After perhaps an hour, Snape took a moment to notice then to ignore the fact, that Harry was now curled like a large cat on the floor around the legs of Snape's chair studying for Transfigurations. When Harry fell asleep there, Snape transfigured a couch, mobilicorpused him to it, and tossed a blanket over him. That was where Harry awoke just after curfew.
"I trust you can make it back to the towers without stepping on Mrs. Norris?"
"I think so, sir."
"If Mr. Filch does catch you, you may advise him to bring you to me."
"Yes sir, thank you. He won't. Catch me, I mean. You're the only one who did."
"Goodnight then, Mr. Potter."
"Sir?"
"Mr. Potter?"
"How did Malfoy lose that point?"
"He seems to be labouring under the misapprehension that an ordinary cauldron is sufficient for the preparation of Eleusinian Mystery Tonic."
"Did he actually say that, sir?"
"No, unfortunately for Mr. Malfoy, he failed to specify otherwise."
"Don't worry, Professor. I won't torture Malfoy with the knowledge of his mistake."
"Thank you for leaving that particular pleasure to me, then. Get out, Mr. Potter."
"Goodnight, sir."
On the evening before the start of Harry's N.E.W.T.s, he went to Snape's office, because he didn't want to go anywhere else.
"We have completed this portion of our agreement, Mr. Potter. As such, you are no longer required to come here. If you imagine that you can stuff something useful into that head of yours at the very last moment, that has not managed to find its way there over the course of the past seven years, I would suggest the library, as a convenient place to do so."
"I'd rather stay here with you, sir. Unless, you'd rather be alone. I don't mean to disturb you."
"After seven years of constant disruptions, you suddenly worry about disturbing me? Wonders never cease."
"What are you doing, sir?"
"At least my wonder was short-lived. I am writing, Mr. Potter."
"Writing what?"
"A book, if you must know."
"You're writing a book? I think that is wonderful, sir! What kind of book?"
"Ten guesses, Mr. Potter."
"I Was a Teen-aged Death-Eater?"
"Twenty five guesses."
"Is it a potions text, sir?"
"Correct."
"I'd like to read it."
"I very much doubt that. However, you may feel free to read a copy, when it is finished, published, and paid for by you at Flourish and Blotts."
"I promise I will read it. I'm sure it's brilliant. How could it not be? How long have you been working on it?"
"My entire life, with the exception of the first five years, or so."
"You're joking!"
"Not really, no."
"You've been making potions since you were five?"
"No. I have kept records of my experiments since I was five. I was making potions long before then. The first book I ever read on my own was my mother's first year Potions book, the one she had used at Hogwarts. It is out of print now, and should be, given its many flaws. Still, the subject of potions has fascinated me ever since."
"I didn't have any toys, either, sir."
"I do remember, Mr. Potter."
"You are really lucky, to have a life-long interest, a passion, like that."
"Yes."
"Sir, what happens now? With our agreement, I mean."
"You take N.E.W.T.s and, unlikely as it may once have seemed, will graduate, Mr. Potter."
"After that?"
"You will have to decide what you want out of life."
"I'm not used to that- the luxury of making my own decisions."
"That would make two of us."
"Do you- do you still want me, sir?"
"Yes."
"I think about you all day. I dream about you. My last nightmare wasn't about Voldemort or the war. I came here and couldn't find you. I looked all over the castle, the grounds, the forest. I never did find you. Anyway, about our agreement, you never ask me about it. I hope it means that you trust me. If you ever do wonder, I want you to know that I never broke a single rule. I never wanted to, sir. I'm very proud that you chose me to be your student."
"You have proved that, Mr. Potter, or nearly so."
"Not until my graduation?"
"Correct."
"Should I get out, now, sir?"
"No."
Snape retrieved a small vial from his desk drawer. He handed it to Potter.
"What's this?"
"Memory Ease Potion."
"Um, did we cover this in class, sir?"
"No, we did not."
"What does it do?"
"It enables the rapid recall of any fact stored within the wizarding brain."
"Is it- is this legal, sir?"
"Define legal."
"Can I use it for N.E.W.T.s without going to Azkaban?"
"You have a most dramatic sense of the illegal, Mr. Potter. Since I am the only person who knows how to make it, or even that it exists, except for the multitude of Slytherin who have, throughout the years used it before taking O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, and have not made public that fact, it is not illegal. Therefore, one might assume that it is legal."
"You designed this potion?"
"I did, when I was about your age."
"So every year you've helped Slytherins cheat on their tests with this?"
"It does not put information into the brain, Mr. Potter. It only makes information that is already there easier to access. It is not a cheat- anymore than the drinking of coffee to stay alert."
"How very Slytherin of you, though, sir, to provide it only to other Slytherins."
"As Head of Slytherin House, Slytherins are the only ones with whom I need concern myself."
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"Think of it as another decision, one that is yours to make. You may take it. You may return it. You may take it, and choose not to use it. The luxury of this choice is entirely yours."
"So it's two, no five gifts in one, then. Well, as least five."
"Why five gifts, Mr. Potter?"
"At least five. It's a very pretty bottle, even if it weren't, I'd keep it because you gave it to me. So that's one. Two, there's what the potion does. If I use it, and let's face it, I'd be mad not to, you are gifting me with it's use. Then as you said, there is the gift of my choice. That's three. Four, you are trusting me that I won't do something stupid with it that will cause you trouble. Five, is sort of a catch all for what ever you had to do in order to make the potion, the time, the effort, the cost of ingredients. Some of them might have been hard to get. You may have collected them yourself. No one has ever given me a potion as a gift. It's romantic, sir, in the sort of way that handmade gifts always are. Anyway, that's why I said at least five. How should I use it?"
"Ingest two drops, only two, Mr. Potter. More will have no further effect. Should you choose to use it, take it one hour before the start of each N.E.W.T. Accelerated recall lasts about four hours, after taking effect. There is more than enough to last the week. If you use it, keep what is left. It stores well."
"Will coffee help too?"
"One cup, every three hours. More than that may be a disadvantage."
"What else?"
"You will do well."
"Only because of you, sir. Thank you five times over for the cheating potion!"
"Get out."
"Going, sir."
"Good luck, Mr. Potter."