DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any other familiar characters/places.
Minor correction...
Chapter 28 fishing
"Good, Severus, you're he-", Albus stopped as he noticed that Harry was in the room. He looked towards Severus with a questioning glance, "Am I interrupting anything?"
Harry look?But sir," Harry started to say before falling silent under Snape's glare.
"Potter, you already have detention for the remainder of this week, now if you want to add more to that, by all means, complete that sentence."
Harry glared at Snape before standing up and heading over to the cauldrons.
The minute he started cleaning, he heard Snape's office door close behind the two professors.
Harry couldn't believe the potion master would leave it like this. How could Snape 2?? Snape replied. "Potter, you heard me, the cauldrons in the corner, no magic."
"But sir," Harry started to say before falling silent under Snape's glare.
"Potter, you already have detention for the remainder of this week, now if you want to add more to that, by all means, complete that sentence."
Harry glared at Snape before standing up and heading over to the cauldrons.
The minute he started cleaning, he heard Snape's office door close behind the two professors.
Harry couldn't believe the potion master would leave it like this. How could Snape just ignore what Harry said? Didn't he want to know the truth? Didn't he care? Oh, Harry knew that Snape might not care about the-boy-who-lived, but surely he would care to know if Harry was his son.
"You tell the man that you might be his son and he gives you a stack of cauldron's to clean," Harry mumbled as he shook his head. It seemed no matter who his relatives were they were always making him clean. Harry went on grumbling about the unfairness of it all until he became aware of another voice that could be heard. He froze, praying that it wasn't another Basilisk in the pipes. Hoping that the Basilisk he killed didn't have a mate or children hidden somewhere in the Chamber of Secrets.
"Albus, I told you that I don't know."
Harry sighed with relief as he realized that the voices that he heard belonged to Snape and the headmaster conversing in the room next to him.
"Fine, fine. But, Severus, please do your best to find out. We have less than a month until Halloween. We need to prepare for whatever he intends to do that evening. I have no doubt that something will be planned for that night and that it will somehow involve Harry."
Harry paled when he heard the headmaster's words. Not again. The cauldron he was cleaning fell to the floor as Harry's hands shook. Please, Harry silently prayed to the powers that be, not something else to deal with, not right now, not Voldemort.
At the sound of the crash, Albus and Severus came rushing out of Snape's office. With one look at Harry they could tell that he overheard their conversation.
"Mr. Potter," Snape began, "You should know better than to listen in on other people's conversations."
"Severus, give the boy a chance to explain, we did forget to put up charms and we knew that he was here." Albus said, his blue eyes twinkling, "Harry?"
"I didn't mean to listen," Harry said, "I was just cleaning the cauldrons when I started to hear voices, at first I thought I might be hearing another Basilisk in the walls, then I realized that it was the two of you. I apologize for accidentally hearing your conversation."
"Harry, it's not your fault. If we didn't want you to hear, then we should have remembered to put up some privacy charms. Now, why don't you come with me now and we can discuss this."
Harry looked towards Snape. He never thought that he would be thinking this, but he would much rather stay in the dungeon and finish talking with Snape.
Noticing Harry's glance towards the younger professor, Albus said, "I'm sure Severus wouldn't mind if you serve your detention another time."
"Not at all, headmaster, not at all." Severus agreed, thinking what else could he do with those blue eyes twinkling at him?
Once inside the headmaster's office, Dumbledore promptly held out a metal tin and asked, "Lemon Drop, Harry?"
Harry just raised an eyebrow and looked at Dumbledore as if to say 'You brought me here for this?'
"That's a no, I take it?" Albus said as he shook his head.
"So, Harry, how are you? We haven't talked in a while. The last few weeks of summer were very quiet without you, here."
"I'm fine, thank you sir."
"As I said, we haven't talked in a while. Is there anything you want to share with me?"
"No, nothing, sir."
"Harry, I know you well enough to know that something is going on. Now, you can tell me anything. We can talk about Sirius, Voldemort, the prophecy, your classes, your professors, your family, anything you want."
"Actually, sir, there is one thing."
"Well, go on. I'm here to listen." Albus said as he leaned forward, hands clasped and eyes twinkling, eager to hear what Harry would share.
"Hermione knows about the prophecy. I told her about it the other day." Harry said, not wanting to get into details about why he told her or how it came up in the first place. "I thought that you and the order should know."
"I see." Albus said, the twinkle in his eyes fading as he realized that he hadn't earned Harry's trust back. Why else would the boy be willing to converse with Severus and not him? "Well, thank you for telling me. This could be a good thing. I'm glad that you have someone to talk to about this. Anything else?"
At Harry's hesitation, Albus continued, "Harry, forgive an old man for prying, but as I said, I can tell that something is troubling you. You and Severus were getting along so well over the holidays that I, for one, was envisioning a peaceful school year. I had hopes that the two of you would get to know one another better, thus making the order's jobs and mine as headmaster much easier. Now, you might have originally been down there for detention, but I know that I interrupted more than just Severus assigning tasks. Please tell me what is going on between the two of you."
Harry just glared at Dumbledore, if the headmaster hadn't interrupted his detention, then Harry might actually know what was 'going on' between himself and professor Snape.
"Harry, I'm not going to let you leave until you tell me what's going on."
As the headmaster looked into his eyes, Harry made sure that no memories were available for Dumbledore to see.
"It's personal, headmaster."
Albus looked at Harry and decided that another approach might work better. "Harry, two heads are always better than one to work on a problem."
"Sir, there is no problem. And even if there was I could deal with it on my own. I think that I have proved that I can handle things on my own. I didn't need your assistance in the past, and I don't now."
"I thought that you had forgiven me for my past mistakes and were willing to trust me again." Albus Dumbledore said to Harry, with a touch of hurt in his voice.
"I have forgiven you for the past, sir. However, keeping me in here until I share something that I don't want to is not exactly helping."
"My dear boy, that is all I want to do, just to help you."
"Then let me handle things my way. If it's something that concerns the Order, the Prophecy or something else that I think you should know about then I will tell you, otherwise, please let it be."
"Harry, if you and one of the professors are at odds with each other then it does concern me. Anything that effects this school is my business. Now will you please tell me what's going on?" Harry had never heard the headmaster speak in that exasperated tone before.
"I'm sorry sir, but I can't. However, I will say this; it's regarding memories that were seen during occlumency lessons."
Albus gave a frustrated sigh. This child could be as stubborn as Severus. Obviously Harry wasn't going to share anything regarding himself and the potion master.
"All right, Harry, I'll let this matter drop for now, on another note, though, I couldn't help notice your reaction to my conversation with Severus. You were positively white and shaking"
Harry sighed, it seemed doubtful that he would get out of here in time to finish his 'detention'. At least the headmaster was no longer asking him about his relationship with Snape. This new topic was one that he could talk to Dumbledore about, besides, maybe if the headmaster believes that Harry is opening up about things he would be left on his own more often. "It's just, well, if Voldemort does make some attempt to get to me on Halloween and if we meet face to face again, it would be the first time since I heard the prophecy. I always knew that he wanted me dead, but to actually know that one of has to kill the other, well, it's a little be disconcerting and "
"And?" Albus prodded.
"and terrifying. I really don't want to die. I want to graduate and see my friends graduate, as well. I want to see them start careers and get married, have kids and-" Harry stopped, finishing that sentence to himself, 'find out the truth about family'.
Albus nodded his head, "I understand Harry. No one wants you to die and we will do all we can to prevent that from happening. You will need to work with us on this, though. No late night wanderings to see Hagrid, and I'm afraid, no trips to Hogsmeade."
"What? How come?"
"Harry, it's simply isn't safe for you to be outside of the castle. The castle is the safest place for you right now."
"Neither can live," Harry mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" Albus asked, not sure why Harry was quoting the prophecy.
"I just realized the full implication of the prophecy. Apparently while Voldemort is still alive and free, I am trapped as a prisoner, either here or at the Dursley's, unable to live or enjoy my life."
Albus sighed, Merlin help him from dramatic teenagers. "Harry, we are trying the best we can to keep you safe. Again, you need to work with us on this, not fight us."
"What if Remus came with me to Hogsmeade?"
"No, Harry, that won't work."
"Why not? Surely you trust him?"
"It's not a matter of not trusting him, but he has other responsibilities that he needs to see to. As do other members of the Order, and it isn't fair to ask a professor to watch over you in town."
"Hmmp, but it's fair of you to keep me trapped here when everyone else goes into town."
Albus just shook his head. Apparently having Harry spend so much time with Severus over the summer was a mistake, Harry seemed to have picked up Severus's bad habit of arguing with him.
"If it's not safe for me, what makes you think that it will be safe for everyone else? What's to keep Voldemort from getting them?"
"The difference is that we know that Voldemort wants you."
"Then I would think that I would be safer, at least I would know about the possibility of Voldemort attacking and would be prepared. Besides, if Voldemort can't find me in town, he isn't going to leave empty handed. He will make sure that people know that he was there."
"Maybe so. But my decision stands. Besides, you don't have signed approval from your guardian to be off of school grounds."
"What?" A puzzled Harry asked, "But Sirius signed-"
"Yes, Sirius signed one for you two years ago. Unfortunately, he is no longer your living guardian so that form is no longer valid."
"And you couldn't have told me this last year when I would've had the opportunity to ask the Dursley's to sign it, could you?"
Albus remained silent as he watched the student in front of him, he could feel the anger radiating from Harry's body.
"Fine Is that all, sir?"
As soon as Albus nodded, Harry turned around and left.
What a waste of time, Harry thought, as he stormed back to the tower, shaking his head. It was now after curfew, definitely too late to go and finish his conversation with Professor Snape.
Giving the fat lady the password he entered Gryffindor Tower.
Hermione was sitting on one of the couches waiting for Harry when he walked in through the portrait. "Harry, how did-"
"Merlin, Harry, did Snape keep you this entire time?" Ron interrupted as he entered the common room and saw Harry. "He's never kept you this late before."
"No, I was with Dumbledore for part of the night."
"Is everything okay, Harry?"
"Depends on your definition of okay," Harry grumbled.
At Hermione's look, Harry continued, "My permission form for Hogsmeade isn't valid since Sirius is dead and Dumbledore conveniently forgot to tell me at the beginning of summer when I could have had my family sign another form."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione sympathized, "I'm sure it wasn't on purpose."
"Considering Dumbledore once more thinks Hogsmeade isn't safe for me, I wouldn't bet on that."
"Well, then, maybe it's for the best."
"Hermione!" Ron cried, "How could it be for the best? No Honeydukes, no butterbeer, no Zonko's! This is just cruel."
"Hush, Ron. You're not making Harry feel any better about this."
"Sorry, mate. Hey, maybe once you figure out who your father is, he can give you permission."
"Don't think that will happen." Harry said with a sigh.
Hermione watched Harry with a concerned expression on her face. Uh-oh, she thought, it doesn't sound like things went all the well with Professor Snape.
"What? You don't think he'll sign or you don't think you'll find out who your father is?"
Harry sat silent for a few minutes, thinking about how to answer Ron's question.
"Harry?" Ron asked. He wasn't used to Harry thinking before he spoke. Maybe both of them had spent too much time with Hermione, but Ron decided that there had to be a reason why Harry hadn't answered he question yet. "Do you know who your father is?"
"I can honestly say that I don't know who my father is."
"Oh," Ron said, feeling better before he caught the look exchanged between Harry and Hermione. "What aren't you two telling me?"
Harry winced at Ron's voice. He sounded so hurt and the expression on his face reminded Harry of Remus's when he talked about how upset and disappointed he felt that Lily and James didn't share the news of his adoption with them.
"Ron, I don't know who my father is, but I have a pretty good guess. Unfortunately, it's just suspicion right now. I didn't want to tell you until I had proof."
"Oh," Ron said again, thinking out loud, "Why won't he tell me?"
Harry and Hermione shared another look.
"Ron, I just don't want to upset you for nothing. I could be wrong about this."
"Could be, but you don't think you are, do you?"
"Honestly, Ron, I don't know what to think. Most of the pieces fit, but there are a couple of things I just don't understand about this whole thing."
"I'd really wish you would tell me. I mean, how bad can it be? We've been through so much together, what's a little thing like the identity of your father?" Ron said with a grin.
Harry smiled at Ron's words while he sat there thinking, before looking at Hermione. At her nod, he put up privacy charms, so they would be aware of anyone approaching the common room, and silencing charms so no one else could hear them.
"Okay, I'll tell you. But you have to give your word that you won't tell anyone. And if you freak out, I will have you obliviated. Do you promise?"
"Harry, you're scaring me," Ron said as he gave a half-hearted laughed. At Harry's glare, Ron nodded and said, "Okay, I agree." At a look from Hermione, Ron continued, "Okay, I give my word as a wizard."
End Chapter 28 fishing
So, you all thought ch. 27 was an evil cliffie? I didn't much think of it as one, of course, I didn't have to wait a week to see what happened (and I am sorry about that, busy with holiday stuff)
So, if you guys hated me for the last chapter, I bet you really hate me for this one (minor cliffie & not much Sev)…
Bet you can't guess Ron's immediate reaction...
I was amazed (and impressed) by the threats and accusations many of you directed towards Dumbledore…Just to let you know, he didn't have anything to do with the kidnapping, in fact, he is pretty much clueless about the Harry/Sev situation.
You guys are awesome!!! Wonderful reviews! And so many…Thanks to all of you my faithful reviewers & those that reviewed for the first time and everyone in-between.
Upcoming:
Chapter 29 shocking
Chapter 30 awakening reflections (tentative title) –this might be a long chapter
Chapter 31 playing along
12/17/20049